NEW YORK — Toy stores across the country scrambled Monday to abide by tough new lead and chemical standards for toys that go into effect today.
Many toy sellers pulled questionable items off their shelves after a judge last week nixed a delay that would have given them a 12-month stay. The abrupt change and the lack of guidelines have left many retailers bewildered.
At the Toy Store in Atlanta, owner Denis Hofstetter was pulling about 5 percent of his inventory off the shelf Monday because he isn’t certain whether the toys conform to the regulations.
“It’s a great law that’s being implemented terribly,” he said.
Last summer, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which imposed tough standards for lead and certain chemicals, called phthalates, in products for children age 12 and younger.
The standards were set to go into effect today, but on Jan. 30 the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a one-year stay of enforcement for some testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products. The decision gave the CPSC more time to finalize four proposed rules that could exclude some materials and products from testing and issue more guidance on how testing is to be conducted.
However, retailers are still not allowed to sell the products, causing some uncertainty.
Larger manufacturers and retailers have been tightening their own standards since Mattel Inc., the largest U.S. toymaker, in 2007 recalled more than 20 million toys made in China because of fears of lead-paint contamination and tiny magnets that children could accidentally swallow.
Hasbro says its products have been in line with the tightened regulations for several years, and major retailers such as Toys R Us say they already meet the new regulations.
Wal-Mart and Target said they would be compliant with the new regulations by today.
Small retailers are using their best judgment of what to take off their shelves.
“I want improved regulations. I think the regulations and enforcement we had was inadequate,” said Allen Rickert, owner of Top Ten Toys in Seattle. “However, overly broad regulations, without reasonable exceptions, only hurt small manufacturers and small retailers.”
