Stay of Execution and Mid-August requirements

[Mark in Denver]

We all Know there is a stay of execution from 2/10/09 to 2/10/10, which no longer requires us to issue GCCs or perform testing (although our products still cannot exceed the lead limit and thus still may need to something like XRF testing anyway).

But what does the Stay of Execution mean for the mid-August requirements? Do we still need to do 3rd party wet testing? Do we still need to do lot/batch number labeling? Or is this delayed for a year as well?

Thank you.

[Kathleen F.]

The lead limit drops to 300ppm. Unit ("wet") testing is also delayed. I'm not sure about the tracking and labeling but will look into it. We have a conference call today.

[Mark in Denver]

That sounds great. Thank you.

[Mark in Denver]

Is there any news on whether additional labeling with lot numbers will be need to be done this coming August?

Thank you for your help. Mark.

[Kathleen F.]

Unfortunately, this is still on and we're working hard on that front. I'm working on an entry about it. Eric and I agree it's an insidious thing...people were more worried about the big bang cost of testing but this one will needle people to death. The costs -administrative and otherwise- are too difficult to calculate until a spate of time has passed. We fear more business losses, with more falling out of the market.

Eric has described it as the boiling frog syndrome. There's no cut off point (except maybe at the end of the quarter or even, month) so people know the water is too hot to stand.

Worst of all: Because of the sheer complexity of labeling and tracking, violations are inevitable. UNFORTUNATELY, the law itself will become a self perpetuating machine of justifications for its need and continuance. Because it's so easy to fail to comply owing to a paper-admin crime and then to get caught and fined, uspirg et al will say, "look at all these offenders, good thing we have this law! Look at all the people we caught". The presumption will be they've stopped a lot of unsafe products when all they've really done is create a shopping list for any number of infractions that have nothing to do with safety at all.

[Mark in Denver]

Yes, these requirements will be a nightmare to manage. Thank you for your hard work on this, and for keeping us posted. Mark.