(a) Purpose. The purpose of this subpart is to establish requirements that manufacturers and importers of bicycle helmets subject to the Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets (subpart A of this part 1203) shall issue certificates of compliance in the form specified.

(b) Basis. Section 14(a)(1) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2063(a)(1), requires every manufacturer (including importers) and private labeler of a product which is subject to a consumer product safety standard to issue a certificate that the product conforms to the applicable standard. Section 14(a)(1) further requires that the certificate be based either on a test of each product or on a “reasonable testing program.” The Commission may, by rule, designate one or more of the manufacturers and private labelers as the persons who shall issue the required certificate. 15 U.S.C. 2063(a)(2).

(c) Scope. The provisions of this subpart apply to all bicycle helmets that are subject to the requirements of the Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets, subpart A of this part 1203.

All bicycle helmets manufactured on or after March 11, 1999, must meet the standard and must be certified as complying with the standard in accordance with this subpart B.

The following definitions shall apply to this subpart:

(a) Foreign manufacturer means an entity that manufactured a bicycle helmet outside the United States, as defined in 15 2052(a)(10) and (14).

(b) Manufacturer means the entity that either manufactured a helmet in the United States or imported a helmet manufactured outside the United States.

(c) Private labeler means an owner of a brand or trademark that is used on a bicycle helmet subject to the standard and that is not the brand or trademark of the manufacturer of the bicycle helmet, provided the owner of the brand or trademark caused, authorized, or approved its use.

(d) Production lot means a quantity of bicycle helmets from which certain bicycle helmets are selected for testing prior to certifying the lot. All bicycle helmets in a lot must be essentially identical in those design, construction, and material features that relate to the ability of a bicycle helmet to comply with the standard.

(e) Reasonable testing program means any tests which are identical or equivalent to, or more stringent than, the tests defined in the standard and which are performed on one or more bicycle helmets selected from the production lot to determine whether there is reasonable assurance that all of the bicycle helmets in that lot comply with the requirements of the standard.

(a) General. Manufacturers, as defined in § 1203.32(b) to include importers, shall conduct a reasonable testing program to demonstrate that their bicycle helmets comply with the requirements of the standard.

(b) Reasonable testing program. This paragraph provides guidance for establishing a reasonable testing program.

(1) Within the requirements set forth in this paragraph (b), manufacturers and importers may define their own reasonable testing programs. Reasonable testing programs may, at the option of manufacturers and importers, be conducted by an independent third party qualified to perform such testing programs. However, manufacturers and importers are responsible for ensuring compliance with all requirements of the standard in subpart A of this part.

(2) As part of the reasonable testing program, the bicycle helmets shall be divided into production lots, and sample bicycle helmets from each production lot shall be tested. Whenever there is a change in parts, suppliers of parts, or production methods, and the change could affect the ability of the bicycle helmet to comply with the requirements of the standard, the manufacturer shall establish a new production lot for testing.

(3) The Commission will test for compliance with the standard by using the standard's test procedures. However, a reasonable testing program need not be identical to the tests prescribed in the standard.

(4) If the reasonable testing program shows that a bicycle helmet may not comply with one or more requirements of the standard, no bicycle helmet in the production lot can be certified as complying until sufficient actions are taken that it is reasonably likely that no noncomplying bicycle helmets remain in the production lot. All identified noncomplying helmets in the lot must be destroyed or altered by repair, redesign, or use of a different material or component, to the extent necessary to make them conform to the standard.

(5) The sale or offering for sale of a bicycle helmet that does not comply with the standard is a prohibited act and a violation of section 19(a) of the CPSA (15 U.S.C. 2068(a)), regardless of whether the bicycle helmet has been validly certified.

(a) Form of permanent label of certification. Manufacturers, as defined in § 1203.32(a), shall issue certificates of compliance for bicycle helmets manufactured after March 11, 1999, in the form of a durable, legible, and readily visible label meeting the requirements of this section. This label is the helmet's certificate of compliance, as that term is used in section 14 of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2063.

(b) Contents of certification label. The certification labels required by this section shall contain the following:

(1) The statement “Complies with U.S. CPSC Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets for Persons Age 5 and Older” or “Complies with U.S. CPSC Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets for Persons Age 1 and Older (Extended Head Coverage)”, as appropriate; this label may spell out “U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission” instead of “U.S. CPSC”;

(2) The name of the U.S. manufacturer or importer responsible for issuing the certificate or the name of a private labeler;

(3) The address of the U.S. manufacturer or importer responsible for issuing the certificate or, if the name of a private labeler is on the label, the address of the private labeler;

(4) The name and address of the foreign manufacturer, if the helmet was manufactured outside the United States;

(5) The telephone number of the U.S. manufacturer or importer responsible for issuing the certificate or, if the name of a private labeler is on the label, the telephone number of the private labeler;

(6) An identification of the production lot; and

(7) The uncoded month and year the product was manufactured.

(c) Coding. (1) The information required by paragraphs (b)(4) and (b)(6) of this section, and the information referred to in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, may be in code, provided:

(i) The person or firm issuing the certificate maintains a written record of the meaning of each symbol used in the code, and

(ii) The record shall be made available to the distributor, retailer, consumer, and Commission upon request.

(2) A serial number may be used in place of a production lot identification on the helmet if it can serve as a code to identify the production lot. If a bicycle helmet is manufactured for sale by a private labeler, and if the name of the private labeler is on the certification label, the name of the manufacturer or importer issuing the certificate, and the name and address of any foreign manufacturer, may also be in code.

(d) Placement of the label(s). The information required by paragraphs (b)(2), (b)(3), and (b)(5) of this section must be on one label. The other required information may be on separate labels. The label(s) required by this section must be affixed to the bicycle helmet. If the label(s) are not immediately visible to the ultimate purchaser of the bicycle helmet prior to purchase because of packaging or other marketing practices, a second label is required. That label shall state, as appropriate, “Complies with U.S. CPSC Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets for Persons Age 5 and Older”, or “Complies with U.S. CPSC Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets for Persons Age 1 and Older (Extended Head Coverage)”. The label shall be legible, readily visible, and placed on the main display panel of the packaging or, if the packaging is not visible before purchase (e.g., catalog sales), on the promotional material used with the sale of the bicycle helmet. This label may spell out “U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission” instead of “U.S. CPSC.”

(e) Additional provisions for importers—(1) General. The importer of any bicycle helmet subject to the standard in subpart A of this part 1203 must issue the certificate of compliance required by section 14(a) of the CPSA and this section. If a reasonable testing program meeting the requirements of this subpart has been performed by or for the foreign manufacturer of the product, the importer may rely in good faith on such tests to support the certificate of compliance, provided:

(i) The importer is a resident of the United States or has a resident agent in the United States,

(ii) There are records of such tests required by § 1203.41 of subpart C of this part, and

(iii) Such records are available to the Commission within 48 hours of a request to the importer.

(2) Responsibility of importers. Importers that rely on tests by the foreign manufacturer to support the certificate of compliance shall—in addition to complying with paragraph (e)(1) of this section—examine the records supplied by the manufacturer to determine that they comply with § 1203.41 of subpart C of this part.