New Regulations On Safety Of Textiles And Clothing In The United States

Since 2008, technical barriers to trade in China's textile and garment industry have been increasing in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, and the requirements for safety, hygiene, environmental protection and anti fraud in clothing products have become increasingly stringent.

Last October, the US Consumer Product Safety Board (CPSC) announced the new regulation that all textiles and clothing products exported to the US market must be observed in February 2009.

According to the latest regulations issued by the US CPSC, the product CPSC which does not conform to the safety regulations will be destroyed completely. Once the enterprise is found to be in violation of the regulations, it will also be severely punished.

For China's clothing export enterprises, it is undoubtedly worse.

Unlike the export products that were previously breaches of safety regulations, CPSC will now directly destroy products that are not in conformity with safety regulations.

The new law has also strengthened the safety management of Baby Garments, including monitoring the quality of fabrics, rope and other decorations.

For some cities with clothing export as a pillar industry, the pressure will be even greater now.

For example, Ningbo, according to the Ningbo inspection and Quarantine Bureau, in the first three quarters of 2008, the amount of export inspection of textiles and clothing imported into the United States amounted to US $139 million, accounting for 13.7% of the total inspection amount.

In order to solve the export bottleneck that may be brought to the textile and garment export enterprises by the new technical barriers, we must first understand the latest regulations of the international market as soon as possible, especially the export of American textiles, which require more attention to the mandatory standards of safety performance, followed by strict registration of the major raw and auxiliary materials for production, strictly monitoring the production of key raw and auxiliary materials safety items, and strictly organizing the production according to the importing countries or technical regulations and standards, so that the unqualified raw and auxiliary materials will not be put into production, the unqualified products will not go out, and the export risk will be avoided to the maximum extent.

With regard to the origin mark, the customs and Border Protection Agency of the United States stipulates that unless the precedent permits other marking methods, all garments must be marked with the cloth label.

The customs and Border Protection Bureau of the United States accepts, under certain circumstances, the origin mark of direct screen printing on the cloth inside the neckline of the garment, and the double garment is exempt from the neckline label requirement.

To this end, the inspection and Quarantine Department reminded clothing export enterprises that they should have a detailed understanding of the relevant provisions of the United States on the import of clothing labels, distinguish between different products, and choose the right clothing marks and sewing methods accordingly, so as not to cause the return of goods due to improper use of signs.

Editor in chief: Xu Qiyun