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USA: New Jersey proposes banning children’s products made with formaldehyde

october 2018- Relevant for: softlines, toys and children's products

In USA, a bill concerning children’s products that are composed of or made with formaldehyde has been recently proposed¹ in the State of New Jersey. The Act if passed, starting 1 April 2019, no person can commence any children’s products that are intended for children aged 12 or under containing formaldehyde.

The Act defines children’s products are solely designed for care and used by a child or items come into contact with children. However, batteries, electronic products, pesticides, food and drugs are excluded from the ban.

Any manufacturer or distributor should issue recall immediately when discovered children’s products containing formaldehyde, and trigger follow-up actions:

• Within 48 hours of receiving notice of the recall, retail mercantile establishments would be required to remove the children’s product from displays and make it unavailable for purchase.
• Within 14 business days, retail mercantile establishments would be required to return all inventory of the children’s product to the manufacturer or distributor.
• The manufacturer or distributor would then have 60 business days to destroy and dispose the children’s product. 

Minnesota currently restricts the intended use of formaldehyde in children’s products. Reporting obligation was also introduced in Washington, Vermont, Maine and Oregon for children’s products containing formaldehyde, which is listed as one of their chemicals of concern. In addition, the EPA Federal regulation² have been in force since June 2018 targeting formaldehyde emission standards from composite wood products.

[1] AB 4481, 218^th Legislature of New Jersey

[2] EPA formaldehyde rule for composite wood products, March 2018