For customs brokers and freight forwarders
CPSC eFiling for brokers and forwarders
Since July 8, 2026 certificate data for CPSC-regulated consumer products must be transmitted with every entry, whatever the value (16 CFR part 1110). The importer of record owns the accuracy of that data, but the entry that stalls is yours, and the delay is your client's. Foreign trade zone entries phase in on January 8, 2027.
Here is what we see go wrong, most often, in the packs that reach a broker.
What most commonly goes wrong
A CPC is for children's products, a GCC for general-use products under a CPSC rule. The same class of goods can sit on both lists and split by age: adult bicycles are GCC 16 CFR 1512 while children's bicycles are CPC 1512, and bunk beds run 16 CFR 1213 for adults against 1513 for children. Age grading decides which certificate the entry needs.
The children's toy rule requires the certificate to identify the applicable ASTM F963 sections, not just the part. A citation that stops at the part number reads as complete and is not.
Children's products must be tested by a CPSC-accepted laboratory. The rules that carry that requirement are listed at 16 CFR 1112.15. A first-party test report cannot support a CPC.
Where a toy is intended for children under three, 16 CFR 1501 applies alongside 16 CFR 1250. Certificates commonly list the toy rule and omit the small-parts rule.
The ID on the certificate has to match the line the broker declares, whether that is a GTIN, SKU, UPC, model or a CPSC Product Registry ID. When the two do not reconcile, the data is kicked back and the entry waits.
A certificate is evidence about a specific product as built. A change of material, component or supplier moves the product away from the tested basis, and a certificate dated before that change does not describe what is arriving.
Magnets carry their own documentation requirements for sets made on or after 23 March 2023, on top of the certificate data for the entry.
What a clean pack carries
Seven elements ride with the entry in the PGA message set, or are referenced through CPSC Product Registry IDs: Product identification, Rule citations, Manufacture date, Manufacturer / certifying party, Test date, Test laboratory, Point of contact. The free broker pack worksheet lays out each one field by field, with the email to send alongside it.
Two ways we work with brokers and forwarders
US$99 one-off. EntryReady assembles and checks the data set per SKU before the entry is filed, and returns the corrected certificate with a briefing sheet you can file from. A worked example of the output is at the sample review.
A page carrying your name, so clients arrive having already answered whether their product needs a CPC or a GCC. You can see the shape of one at a live partner page.
Send certificate data, get back the CPSC Full PGA Message Set records your filing software expects, fixed width and in filing order. It is live and you can try it without signing up: fetch a worked example or read how the generator works.
Start with one client product
Send us one product a client is importing and we will tell you, before you file, whether its certificate data would clear or stall.
The Broker plan is per use, not per seat: 500 message sets a month included, so it covers a client's entry lines without anyone hand-keying certificate data. The US$99 review stays the right first step if you only want one product looked at.
Brokers and forwarders who want to talk it through can reach us at partners@entryready.app.
EntryReady is compliance software, not legal advice. Rule data transcribed from CPSC.gov; review with a qualified compliance professional before filing. Not affiliated with CPSC or CBP. EntryReady is operated in Australia.