Purpose of the CPSA
The CPSA (available in PDF and Text), enacted in 1972, is CPSC's umbrella statute. It established the agency, defines its basic authority, and provides that when the CPSC finds an unreasonable risk of injury associated with a consumer product it can develop a standard to reduce or eliminate the risk. The CPSA also provides the authority to ban a product if there is no feasible standard, and it gives CPSC authority to pursue recalls for products that present a substantial product hazard. (Generally excluded from CPSC's jurisdiction are food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, tobacco products, firearms and ammunition, motor vehicles, pesticides, aircraft, boats and fixed site amusement rides.) For assistance viewing the act, see below.
Advisory Opinions
Help companies understand the meaning and application of CPSC's laws.
Federal Regulations Associated with the Act
The Federal regulations for the CPSA are found in Title 16 CFR parts 1101 through 1406.
The CPSA is available above in text and PDF format. PDF (Portable Document Format) requires use of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The PDF version of the CPSA has a clickable hyperlinked table of contents. To activate
this feature, open the document in Acrobat Reader, click 
on the Navigation Pane icon, next to the printer icon. If the table of contents does not appear, click on the "Bookmarks." tab. The statutory citations in red are clickable hyperlinks to the statutory text.
All five statutes are available in a single book, with an index, from the
Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington,
D.C. 20207