US import compliance — the phrase everyone uses, wrongly
Is your product "CPSC certified"?
No | and no product is. CPSC does not certify, approve, register or endorse anything. It publishes rules, it accepts laboratories, and it enforces. It issues no certificate, no badge and no seal, and there is no list of approved products to get onto.
The document people mean when they say "CPSC certificate" is a Certificate of Compliance that you issue as the manufacturer or importer: a CPC (Children's Product Certificate) for a product intended for children 12 and under, or a GCC (General Certificate of Conformity) for a general-use product covered by a CPSC rule. Those documents are real, mandatory, and checked. The phrase around them is just wrong.
Where the phrase comes from
Marketplaces, suppliers and labs all use it because it is shorter than the real thing. A platform compliance request that asks for your "CPSC certificate" means the certificate of compliance plus the test report behind it. A supplier offering to send "CPSC certification" usually means a test report. A lab quoting "certification" is quoting testing. None of them are wrong about the obligation | they are wrong about who creates the document.
CPC or GCC: the only real decision
- CPC | children's product. Required for products designed or intended primarily for children 12 and under. It must rest on testing at a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory, and it must cite each applicable children's product rule by number.
- GCC | general-use product. Required for non-children's consumer products covered by a CPSC rule or ban. No third-party lab is mandated: any qualified laboratory, or a documented reasonable testing programme, can support it.
- Both are issued by the responsible party | the manufacturer or the importer of record | not by a lab, not by a broker, not by the government.
Getting this decision wrong is the most common paperwork failure: a GCC supplied for a product that is actually intended for children, where a CPC with accredited testing was required all along.
The lab report is evidence. The certificate is the deliverable.
A passing test report does not make a product "certified" and it does not travel with the shipment as compliance documentation on its own. The certificate is a separate document that states, in this order, the seven elements customs and CPSC look for: product identity, the rules certified to, date of manufacture, place of manufacture, date of testing, the testing laboratory, and a records point of contact. Since 8 July 2026 that data must be eFiled with CBP through ACE on every entry, with no de minimis exemption | a consignment under the US$800 threshold is still caught. See how failures are scored →
Five things that mark a "CPSC certificate" as not compliant
- It is issued in the laboratory's name, with no manufacturer or importer identity and no point of contact.
- It cites no rules by number, or cites a standard with no revision (ASTM F963 without the year is a classic).
- The manufacture date is after the testing date, or the testing date is missing.
- For a children's product, the testing was done by a lab that is not CPSC-accepted.
- It is a one-line declaration with a logo on it | no product identity beyond a name, nothing to match against the shipment.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get my product CPSC certified?
No. CPSC does not certify, approve, register or endorse products, and it issues no certificate, seal or badge. Anything sold to you as "CPSC certification" is either a testing service, a certificate template, or marketing. The obligation is on you, not on the agency: as the manufacturer or importer you issue a Certificate of Compliance — a CPC for a children's product, a GCC for a general-use product — and you keep the records behind it.
Is a "CPSC certificate" the same as a CPC?
Usually, if the product is for children. The phrase "CPSC certificate" is loose seller language for the Certificate of Compliance. For children's products (12 and under, including toys, apparel, care articles and children's sleepwear) that document is a Children's Product Certificate, and it must rest on testing at a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory. For other consumer products covered by a CPSC rule it is a General Certificate of Conformity, which the manufacturer or importer can base on its own reasonable testing programme.
Who signs and issues the certificate?
You do, or the supplier who manufactures on your behalf does as the manufacturer of record — never the laboratory, and never the government. The lab produces the test report; the certificate is a separate document issued by the responsible party, citing each applicable rule by number and carrying the seven data elements in 16 CFR 1110. A certificate signed only by a testing lab, with no importer or manufacturer identity on it, is a common defect and it does not discharge your obligation.
Does the certificate have to be sent to CPSC or CBP?
Not sent — filed. Since 8 July 2026 the certificate data for a regulated product must be filed electronically with CBP through ACE on each entry, and CPSC receives it through that filing. There is no de minimis exemption: a shipment under the US$800 Section 321 threshold still has to carry the data. The certificate and the records behind it stay with you and must be produced on request for at least five years.
A supplier sent me a "CPSC certificate". What should I check?
Check that it is a CPC or GCC rather than a lab report with a nicer header, that it cites the applicable rules by number (for example 16 CFR 1303 for lead in paint, or ASTM F963-23 for toys), that the manufacture date precedes the testing date, that the laboratory is CPSC-accepted for a children's product, and that it names a manufacturer or importer and a point of contact. Any certificate with no rule citations, or issued in the laboratory's name, is not valid on its own.
Rule data transcribed from CPSC.gov; not legal advice — review with a qualified compliance professional before testing or filing. EntryReady is operated in Australia.