Two suppliers quote a chemical test plan for the same plush toy and the numbers are 40% apart. Nobody is padding the bill. One of them is testing components the regulation already exempts, and the other one is not - and the difference is decided by the component list, not by the laboratory.
What follows is the actual decision path, quoted from the current text of the regulation. It is worth reading before signing a test plan, because the cheapest saving in chemical compliance is the test you can show you did not need.
Three limits, three different numbers
The first thing to get straight is that “chemical compliance” is not one limit.
| Requirement | Limit | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total lead content, any accessible component of a children’s product intended primarily for children 12 and younger | 100 ppm | CPSIA § 101(a), 15 U.S.C. 1278a(a) |
| Lead in paint and similar surface-coating materials on toys and articles for children | 0.009% or more by weight is banned | 16 CFR part 1303; 15 U.S.C. 1278a(f) |
| Eight specified phthalates, in any plasticised component or any component made of a material that may contain phthalates | more than 0.1% each is prohibited | 16 CFR 1307.3 |
Note that the paint limit is written as a ban at or above 0.009%, not as a limit to stay under. That is 90 ppm, which is tighter than the 100 ppm total content limit - so a printed or coated surface on a plush toy is held to the stricter of the two numbers.
The eight phthalates, from § 1307.3:
- § 1307.3(a) - DEHP, DBP, BBP
- § 1307.3(b) - DINP, DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP, DCHP
The limits are current, not historic
CPSIA § 101(a) staged the lead limit down: 600 ppm from February 2009, 300 ppm after August 2009, and 100 ppm from August 2011. The section text in 16 CFR still carries that staging language, which is why older compliance documents quote 300 ppm.
The Commission reviewed it again in 2026 and left it alone. The notice published on 24 June 2026 states:
Section 101(a) of the CPSIA (15 U.S.C. 1278a(a)) limits the lead content in any component of a children’s product intended primarily for children 12 years old and younger to 100 ppm.
and concludes that “current regulations already require the lowest amount of lead that is technologically feasible to achieve. Therefore, the Commission is not revising these lead limits at this time.”
So 100 ppm is the number in force. If a supplier quotes 300 ppm as current, they are working from a superseded figure.
Lead content limit for children's products, as staged by CPSIA § 101(a)
Feb 2009 600 ppm ############################################################
Aug 2009 300 ppm ##############################
Aug 2011 100 ppm ########## <- in force today
+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
0 100 200 300 400 500
For comparison, the paint rule is 0.009% = 90 ppm - lower than the
total content limit, and it is a ban at that level rather than a
limit to stay under.
Exemption one: plain dyed fabric needs no lead testing
This is the exemption that decides most of a plush test plan. 16 CFR § 1500.91(d) lists materials the Commission has determined do not exceed the lead content limits, provided they have not been treated or adulterated with anything that could add lead. Paragraph (7) covers textiles:
Textiles (excluding any textiles that contain treatments or applications that do not consist entirely of dyes)
The list of covered fibres is explicit and it includes what plush is made of: natural fibres such as cotton and wool, and manufactured fibres including polyester, olefin, nylon, acrylic and modacrylic.
Read the parenthesis again, because it is where the money is. The exemption survives only if everything on the fabric is a dye. It is lost by:
| Applied to the fabric | Exemption status |
|---|---|
| Dyed, no other finish | Exempt - no lead testing needed |
| Pigment print, screen print, transfer, decal | Not exempt |
| Spot colour beyond process printing | Not exempt |
| Flame retardant, anti-pilling, water repellent, soil release | Not exempt |
| Adhesive, flocking, foil, glitter | Not exempt |
Paragraph (6) makes the same point for inks: CMYK process printing inks are determined not to exceed the limits, and the exclusion is spelled out - “excluding spot colors, other inks that are not used in CMYK process, inks that do not become part of the substrate under 16 CFR part 1303, and inks used in after-treatment applications, including screen prints, transfers, decals, or other prints.”
A plush toy built from dyed velboa with embroidered features and no print sits almost entirely inside the exemption. Add a four-colour chest print applied as a transfer and you have created a component that needs testing.
One caveat that catches people out: the textile exemption is from the lead content limit, not from the lead paint rule. § 1500.91(a) states that materials treated or coated with paint or similar surface-coating materials subject to 16 CFR part 1303 must still comply with the lead paint requirement. A print is a surface coating, so it is held to 0.009%.
Exemption two: a fabric cover can make a lead part inaccessible
The second exemption is the one that matters for a plush toy containing anything metal or electronic. 16 CFR § 1500.87 is the accessibility rule, and it includes a sentence written for soft goods:
A children’s product that is or contains a lead-containing part which is enclosed, encased, or covered by fabric and passes the appropriate use and abuse tests on such covers, is inaccessible to a child unless the product or part of the product in one dimension is smaller than 5 centimeters.
Unpacked, that gives you a flow you can run yourself:
Is there a lead-containing part (metal weight, zip, wire,
battery contact, plated eye) inside the plush?
+-- Is it covered by fabric or otherwise encased?
| |
| +-- NO --> It is accessible.
| | Test it. 100 ppm total lead.
| |
| +-- YES --> Does the cover survive the use and abuse
| tests for the age grade?
| |
| +-- NO --> accessible. Test it.
| |
| +-- YES --> Is the product, or the part,
| smaller than 5 cm in ANY
| one dimension?
| |
| +-- YES --> still
| | accessible.
| | Test it.
| |
| +-- NO --> inaccessible.
| No lead test on
| that part.
Two things in that flow are easy to get wrong.
The use and abuse tests are the age-graded ones. § 1500.87(e) to (h) apply the tests of § 1500.50 and § 1500.51, § 1500.52 or § 1500.53 depending on the age grade, in each case excluding the bite test. A cover that survives ten drops from 1.37 m is treated differently from one that survives four drops from 0.92 m.
The 5 cm exception is measured on the product or the part, in any one dimension. A 12 cm plush has the benefit. A 4 cm plush keyring does not, however well the fabric is stitched - the exemption is switched off by size alone.
Paint, coating and electroplating are not acceptable barriers. § 1500.87(b) says so directly: they “may not be considered to be a barrier that would render lead in the substrate to be inaccessible to a child.” You cannot plate over the problem.
Phthalates are not a PVC problem
The common assumption is that phthalates only matter if there is PVC. § 1307.3(c) is wider than that. The restriction applies to:
any plasticized component part of a children’s toy or child care article or any other component part of a children’s toy or child care article that is made of other materials that may contain phthalates.
“In other materials that may contain phthalates” is the operative phrase. On a plush toy that reaches beyond the obvious:
| Component | Phthalate risk |
|---|---|
| PVC or plastisol parts | High - the classic case |
| Screen-printed or plastisol print on fabric | High - the ink is plasticised |
| Soft plastic eyes, noses, suction cups | High |
| Synthetic leather patches, faux leather trim | Medium |
| Painted or coated hardware, clips, keyrings | Medium |
| Polyester fibre filling | Low, but it is a component and it is reachable |
| Plain dyed shell fabric | Low |
The practical consequence: a supplier who switches from a printed chest panel to an embroidered one has removed a phthalate component as well as a lead component. That is a design change worth making before the test plan is written, not after it fails.
Composite testing hides the failure
A laboratory will offer composite testing - several similar components pooled into one sample - because it is cheaper. Understand what it does: it averages. A pooled sample of five printed panels passes if the average is under the limit, even when one panel is over it.
That is defensible for screening a homogeneous material and indefensible for a finished goods file, because it cannot tell you which component failed. When a customs lab or a retailer’s own audit re-tests a single component and finds it over the limit, a composite pass is no defence at all - the obligation is component by component.
Use composites for a first look at a new supplier. Use component testing for the file that goes with the shipment.
A test plan you can put on a purchase order
For a 25 cm plush toy, dyed shell, embroidered face, plastic safety eyes, a polyester fill and no electronics:
| Component | Lead (100 ppm) | Lead paint (0.009%) | Phthalates (0.1%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shell fabric, dyed only | Not required - § 1500.91(d)(7) | n/a | Test if plasticised |
| Embroidery thread | Not required as a textile | n/a | Test if plasticised |
| Polyester fibre filling | Not required as a fibre | n/a | Test |
| Plastic safety eye, accessible | Test | n/a | Test |
| Plastic nose, accessible | Test | n/a | Test |
| Any print, transfer or decal | Test | Test | Test |
| Metal clip or keyring | Test | n/a | Test if coated |
| Woven label, hang tag | Not required - § 1500.91(d)(5), (7) | Test if printed as a coating | Test if coated |
Put the component list on the purchase order with the standard cited against each line, the way the table does. It does two things: it stops a supplier substituting a printed panel for an embroidered one without telling you, and it stops a laboratory quoting for tests the regulation does not ask for.
Where this stops
Everything above is quoted from the United States rule. It is not the whole picture for an export programme:
- The European Union regulates the same materials through REACH and through EN 71-3, which sets migration limits for nineteen elements rather than a total content limit, and restricts phthalates under REACH Annex XVII. A US report does not satisfy it and the numbers do not convert.
- China’s GB 6675.4 is a third text with its own limits.
- State-level rules in the United States add further restrictions on some substances and are outside the federal framework above.
- Certification is a separate obligation. The CPSC requires children’s products subject to the lead rules to be certified using a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory. A supplier’s internal report is not a Children’s Product Certificate.
Confirm the limit in force on your ship date with your testing laboratory before you build a compliance file on any figure here.
References
-
16 CFR part 1303 - Ban of lead-containing paint and certain consumer products bearing lead-containing paint. Source: 42 FR 44199, 1 September 1977; the 0.06% limit reduced to 0.009% effective 14 August 2009 under CPSIA § 101(f). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/part-1303
-
16 CFR part 1307 - Prohibition of children’s toys and child care articles containing specified phthalates. Source: 82 FR 49982, 27 October 2017, as amended at 83 FR 34764, 23 July 2018. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/part-1307
-
16 CFR § 1500.87 - Children’s products containing lead: inaccessible component parts. Source: 74 FR 39540, 7 August 2009. The fabric-enclosure and 5 cm rule is paragraph (i). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/section-1500.87
-
16 CFR § 1500.91 - Determinations regarding lead content for certain materials or products under section 101 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Source: 74 FR 43041, 26 August 2009, as amended at 80 FR 61732, 14 October 2015. Textiles are paragraph (d)(7); CMYK inks are (d)(6). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/section-1500.91
-
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Notice of Commission Determination Regarding Technological Feasibility of Lead Content Reduction, 91 FR 37957, 24 June 2026. Confirms the 100 ppm lead content limit and the 0.009% paint limit, and declines to revise either. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/24/2026-12695
-
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. 110-314, § 101 (15 U.S.C. 1278a) - lead limits in children’s products.
-
15 U.S.C. 2063 - certification of children’s products by a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory.
-
EN 71-3 - Safety of toys - Part 3: Migration of certain elements. European Committee for Standardization. The EU migration test; it is not interchangeable with the total-content limits above.
Related reading
- Age grading a plush toy: the small parts rules behind a 0+ or 3+ label
- Plush toy safety testing: EN 71, ASTM F963 and GB 6675 compared
- Needle detection and metal contamination control on the sewing floor
- Panda plush keychain: a 15 cm style where the plated ring and clasp, not the fabric, carry most of the lead and cadmium risk
- The stock catalogue: component list per design, which is what the test plan is built from
Flechazo states the component list, the standard cited against each line and the age grade on every quotation, and holds the third-party test report against the shipped specification. MOQ from 100 pieces per design.