The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced that its eFiling programme is now in effect, requiring importers of regulated consumer products to submit compliance certificates electronically before products enter the country’s market.
According to the CPSC, the eFiling programme enables it to identify and target high-risk imported products more efficiently, while reducing unnecessary inspections and delays for compliant importers. By allowing the agency to focus enforcement resources where they are most needed, eFiling helps keep unsafe products out of the US marketplace while facilitating legitimate trade.
The implementation of the programme represents one of the most significant modernisation efforts in CPSC's import surveillance programme since the agency was established, providing CPSC with certificate information before products enter the market. The programme also supports closer coordination between the commission and US Customs and Border Protection, reinforcing a whole-of-government approach to protecting consumers at the border.
“America faces an unprecedented surge in imported consumer products entering through increasingly complex global supply chains, including millions of direct-to-consumer shipments that often bypass traditional retail distribution,” said CPSC acting chairman Peter Feldman.
“CPSC faces significant enforcement challenges, particularly where products originate from countries that do not comply with US safety laws. eFiling brings CPSC's import surveillance and targeting capabilities into the 21st century, enabling the agency to identify and interdict high-risk shipments earlier, keeping unsafe foreign-made products out of American homes and levelling the playing field for American manufacturers and importers that follow the rules.”
Feldman said eFiling did not apply to domestic manufacturers, including small businesses manufacturing in the United States.
“It creates no new testing, certification or compliance obligations. Importers are already required by law to create and maintain this information. eFiling simply modernises how the data is transmitted to CPSC,” he said.
The new programme represents the culmination of more than a decade of development, including extensive industry testing through alpha and beta pilots conducted between 2016 and 2024, followed by a voluntary implementation period that allowed importers to develop and test their systems before today's effective date.
