(I am blogging about this because I enjoy making my own jewellery although I don’t sell them.)  A new law for ‘banned, hazardous substances’ will be made after February 10th 2009, and there’s talk that it will affect many entrepreneurs and small businesses involved in making their own handcrafts for sale.  (That is the bad news!  And I wonder if such a law will eventually pass here in Singapore!)    Let’s have a look how the law will affect for-profit handcrafters in the USA and Canada, many of whom are on Etsy and FireArt….

Hand-knits, handsewn clothes, beaded jewellery, polymer-clay jewellery, wooden toys and a myriad of other products (for children and adults) are usually produced by cash-strapped people at home.  But like Granny’s handmade quilted blankets (normally sold in exquisite ‘arts-and-crafts’ shops), these products will, unfortunately, not be exempt from the upcoming new law in the USA/Canada.

Can you imagine a pair of hand-made of peacock feather earrings under a lab microscope or some other testing for possible hazardous substances?  Or a specially handmade paper-textured greeting card or even a balloon-dress (costumes and dresses made out of “knitted balloons”) under scrutiny?

In order for such handcrafted products to ‘pass under the radar of a contraband act’, each handcrafted product has to go through tests requiring a huge budget. Handcrafters and small business crafters will have to produce a certificate of compliance for each of their products, before they can be sold.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement ACT (or law) apparently comes after a series of past incidents whereby toyhandling craft-workers and children died after inhaling poisonous toxins from innocent-looking made-in-China (or elsewhere) products. Thousands of tons of often exquisitely-handcrafted and one-of-a-kind products in pre-existing stocks that do not pass or go through compliance tests, will have to be dumped by shop-owners and for-profit crafters.

Most handcrafters say they can’t afford the huge price-tag of US$4,000 per compliance test per product. It will remain to be seen if such products can be kept for one’s own personal use instead of selling them, as undoubtedly many handcrafters feel their products are safe.

Did this piece of news touched a raw nerve in you? Blast out!  Have your say!   I love to know what you care about and what you have to say.

Related:
CraftZine.com
Clementine NW’s blog
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Steve Spangler’s

Tags: bad news, new retail law, new law, new trade law, trading act, compliance act, handmade merchandise , handmade products, handcrafted products, banned substance, hazardous substance, new usa law, handmade items requiring, handmade jewellery, etsy, fireart, paper-crafts, handmade paper, handmade cards, papercrave, hand-knits, handsewn clothes, beaded jewellery, polymer-clay, wooden toys, for-profit crafts, exquisite handcrafts, safety act, Consumer Product Safety Improvement,cpsc

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