CPSC Proposes New Safety Standard for Coin Batteries, Products That Contain Them
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing a new safety standard for button cell and coin batteries, including consumer products that are meant to contain them. Under the new standard, the button cell and coin batteries, as well as consumer products that are sold with them and those that are not but are designed to use them, must comply with new labeling and performance requirements. Comments on the proposed rule are due March 13.
The new safety standard was mandated by Reese’s Law, which was signed in August 2022. Under the law, intended to address the risk of ingestion of button cell and coin batteries by children 6 years old and younger, a final safety standard must be published by Aug. 16, 2023.
The CPSC proposed rule would adopt Reese’s Law’s definition of a button cell or coin battery as “(A) a single cell battery with a diameter greater than the height of the battery; or (B) any other battery, regardless of the technology used to produce an electrical charge, that is determined by the Commission to pose an ingestion hazard.” While cylindrical batteries, such as AAA batteries, are included under part A of the definition, the CPSC will not include cylindrical batteries under the rule. “If CPSC becomes aware of a serious ingestion hazard associated with another battery type, section 2(g) of Reese’s Law allows the Commission to undertake additional rulemaking to address the hazard at any time,” it said.
The proposed rule would exempt toy products, defined as an “object designed, manufactured, or marketed as a plaything for children under 14 years of age that is in compliance with the battery accessibility and labeling requirements” of CPSC’s safety standard for toys. Zinc-air button cell or coin batteries would also be exempt, as CPSC has determined they do not present an ingestion risk.
For all other button cell and coin batteries, as well as consumer products that contain or are intended to contain them, CPSC is proposing detailed labeling requirements. Packaging for batteries and consumer products would have to include a prescribed warning label that prominently includes the text “warning” in black text on an orange background, as well as “ingestion hazard,” and that “death or serious injury can occur.” The warning would also have to say new and used batteries should be kept out of reach of children, among other things.
The warning labels would also have to be included on the primary display panel of the packaging for batteries or a consumer product, if possible. Alternative labeling requirements would apply if not. The full warning label would have to be included on instructions and manuals as well, if they exist. And websites where consumers can buy button cell and coin batteries, as well as consumer products that contain or are intended to contain them, would also need to include information about the warning.
Warning labels would also have to appear directly on consumer products, if feasible. If not, then the product would need to display the “internationally recognized: ‘Warning: contains coin battery’ icon,” which “is permitted without text,” the proposed rule said.
The proposed rule also includes performance standards for consumer products containing button cell or coin batteries. These would include measures to prevent children from opening a battery compartment, such as minimum torque tests for battery compartments secured by screws and requirements that screws or fasteners used to secure the battery compartment enclosure be captive to the compartment door, cover or closure. The enclosure would also be required to have a tool to open, or be secured in a way that requires a minimum of two independent and simultaneous hand movements to open, CPSC said.
The CPSC is proposing to set a compliance date of 180 days after publication of the final safety standard on button cell or coin batteries, “because a substantial number of consumer products containing button cell or coin batteries currently do not meet” performance requirements adopted by the proposal. Many industries “will be unfamiliar with all or part of the proposed requirements,” the CPSC said. “These industries may need to redesign, test, and certify to the requirements in the rule. Children’s products that are not toys will require third party testing to the rule, and 180 days will provide sufficient time for test labs to become ISO-accredited and have this accreditation accepted by CPSC to test children’s products. Additionally, the warning label requirements in the proposed rule include specific language that requires manufacturers to revise or reprint all existing packaging and to revise on-product warnings, where practicable,” the CPSC said.