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As a vendor partner, you undoubtedly are aware that last year the United States Congress enacted the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 ( CPSIA ) which affects all consumer products and includes many new obligations. To sell to Stage Stores, we require that you comply with all legal requirements, including compliance with this new law, and existing product safety laws and regulations. Failure to do so will result in the rejection of your shipments. In particular, the CPSIA requires certifications and, even more importantly, limits the use of lead and phthalates in a variety of consumer products and childrens products. There also are important preexisting requirements on garment flammability and small parts, for example. As a supplier, you cannot and should not rely on your retailer or customers to inform you about how to comply with the law. This is your responsibility. We strongly encourage you to consult your counsel and other advisors to make sure that you (and your subcontractors, suppliers and material providers) are and will be in compliance in a timely fashion. Your obligations include not only the CPSIA but the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the Flammable Fabrics Act, and possibly other federal safety laws. You may want to consult www.cpsc.gov and particularly cpsc.gov/businfo/reg.html for further information about CPSC standards that may apply to your products. If you fail to comply with any of the CPSC requirements, we reserve the right to refuse shipments of your products and to remove any such products from our stores at your expense. The General Certification of Conformity ("GCC") For all products manufactured on or after November 12, 2008, Section 14(a)(1) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, as amended by the CPSIA, essentially requires a GCC to be issued with respect to every product that is subject to any consumer product safety rule, ban, standard or regulation enforced by the CPSC. This includes all childrens products but is not limited to those products. The GCC is required for all imported and domestic products subject to applicable rules, bans, standards and regulations. Products without the required certificate, which must accompany the product and be furnished to the retailer, cannot be imported or distributed in the United States. Stage Stores requires all imported and domestic vendors to meet the GCC requirement. Certifications must include mandatory information required by law. Stage requires you to prepare and furnish these certifications electronically to Stage or have them made available to Stage by ready electronic access. The Commission recently issued a stay of enforcement of certain certification and testing requirements for regulated products, including childrens products. It is critical that you understand that this stay: i) does not apply to all products that our vendors supply, and ii) does not affect the underlying requirements which are in effect or which will go into effect on February 10, 2009 for lead and phthalates. The Commissions action does mean that the certification and third party testing for lead and phthalates, for example, are not necessary for one year until February 2010. But this stay does not apply to important requirements discussed below such as lead in metal jewelry, lead-in-paint, and small parts in toys, for example. It is a violation of federal and some state laws for manufacturers, importers or retailers to sell products that violate the lead, phthalate and other requirements. Lead Content and Phthalate Content Some of the new standards include the tightening of restrictions on lead and phthalate content in certain products. As of February 10, 2009, products that contain more than a certain amount of lead or phthalates are banned. This ban is retroactive, which means that we must assure that none of our inventory of childrens products exceeds these standards on and after that date. If you cannot or will not verify this compliance, then we reserve the right, at your expense, to remove the product from our inventory, return same to you and take a credit for the purchase price. Just the other day, a Federal District Court in New York ruled that the phthalate ban is retroactive as of February 10, 2009. This would apply to any childcare products (for children 3 and under for items such as pacifiers, bibs, teethers, baby bottles, etc.) and to childrens toys (for children 12 and under) that you have sold us that might still be on our shelves or that you may supply later. In this regard, for only those vendors that have supplied or do supply childrens products or furniture to Stage Stores, we require you to affirm immediately to us in writing that: i) with respect to lead, the products which you have supplied to Stage Stores since January 1, 2008 (for childrens jewelry) and since July 1, 2008 (for any other childrens product or furniture) comply with the February 10, 2009 lead requirements, ii) with respect to phthalates, the childrens products which you have supplied to Stage Stores since July 1, 2008, comply with the February 10, 2009 phthalate requirements, and iii) you have appropriate test data that such product(s) meet(s) the February 2009 new lead and phthalate requirements. Even absent such certification, which we require immediately, we will assume that you have supplied us with products that meet these important safety standards. If it turns out that you have supplied us with a violative product that is being sold at our stores on or after February 10, then you are responsible for all costs, penalties and obligations that may be imposed including, without limitation, the costs to safely remove and dispose of such products. Also, please note that as a matter of Company policy, for any childrens products containing lead that are supplied to Stage Stores after February 10, 2009, we will require vendors to comply with the August 2009 lead content standards. Additionally, with respect to purchases of childrens products containing phthalates, after February 10, 2009, Stage Stores will prohibit vendors from supplying products to us that contain any phthalates, unless you can first demonstrate to us a valid need for same and that we then agree to same in writing. We ask for your timely cooperation in this important endeavor. We recognize that many retailers or customers already have made these requests of you and this should not be a particular extra burden. PLEASE DO NOT CALL STAGE/PEEBLES IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW. You are responsible for conferring with your companys legal advisors, testing laboratories or others to determine your obligations under the law and what you must do to comply with it. If you have any questions about our requirements, please contact the respective Stage/Peebles merchandising division vice president with whom your company does business. This information and future communications regarding this subject will be placed on our Logistics webpage and Vendor Guidelines which can be found at www.stagestoresinc.com. Thank you very much for your cooperation regarding this important notice.
For Domestic Vendors, please send General Conformity Certificate (GCC) via email to GCC@stagestores.com |
