USA OUTLAWS CORDED READYMADES

The new requirement applies to stock products, sold in stores and online, which account for more than 80 percent of all window covering products sold in the U.S.

The new standard also adds requirements for corded custom window products. Corded window coverings can pose a strangulation hazard to infants and children and are one of the “top five hidden hazards in American homes,” according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) coordinated the twoyear effort to update the safety standard, ANSI/WCMA A100.12018, under the auspices of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), working closely with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the window covering industry and consumer groups.

“The standard’s new requirements segment the market into custom and stock, and requires all stock products, sold in stores and online, to be cordless or have inaccessible or short cords,” said WCMA Executive Director Ralph Vasami.

“Stock products account for more than 80 per cent of all window covering products sold in the U.S. and CPSC incident data shows that requiring these products to be cordless or have inaccessible cords would have the most significant and immediate impact on reducing the strangulation risk to young children from certain window covering cords.”

“The new standard is the result of years of collaboration among WCMA, industry, the safety community and CPSC. It will have a significant impact on reducing the strangulation risk that corded window coverings pose to young children,” said Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle.

“I look forward to the industry’s compliance with the standard. I also appreciate WCMA’s agreement to begin addressing the remaining hazards associated with corded custom window coverings by convening the first meeting of stakeholders to discuss the issues on January 23, 2019,” Buerkle added.

Corded window coverings will only be available on customorder products, as corded products are still needed by a wide range of consumers, including the elderly and those with disabilities, those short in stature, and those with windows in hard-to-reach locations.

The revised standard imposes new restrictions on these custom-order products such as requiring operating cords to have a default length of 40% of the blind height (currently it is unlimited) and a default to a tilt wand instead of a tilt cord.

WCMA member Springs Window Fashions stated, “The new WCMA/ANSI corded window covering standard is a significant achievement and Springs Window Fashions is proud to have played a leadership role in its development. Springs fully supports the new safety standard, and has revised our product designs to meet or exceed these new standards.”

All products manufactured after December 15 2018 should comply with the new standard, although many manufacturers have already introduced new products based on the new standard since the standard was approved in January 2018.

The new safety standard is a direct result of ongoing industry innovation, technological advances and new product development.

“Because many customorder window coverings are available with cordless operating systems or have inaccessible cords, we estimate that as much as 90 per cent of products sold in the U.S. will be cordless or have inaccessible cords once compliance with the new safety standard is in place,” said Vasami.

US WINDOW COVERING MANUFACTURERS CALL ON CANADA TO ABANDON PLANS
In a piece of Donald Trump-like diplomacy, the USA’s Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) Executive Director Ralph Vasami has called on the Canadian government to halt the development of its new window covering safety regulation and immediately reengage in efforts to harmonise the Canadian and U.S. corded window covering standards.

“The new US ANSI window covering safety standard is by far the strongest safety standard in the world,” said Vasami.

“The Canadian government should update the current Canadian standard to harmonise it with the new U.S. safety standard that is already referenced in the existing Canadian Corded Window Covering Products Regulations.”

“Health Canada’s proposed regulation represents a capricious, arbitrary and unjustified use of rulemaking power.”

“There is no credible assessment of risk that justifies the proposed approach. Nor is there any justification from a cost-benefit standpoint, as the costs clearly exceed the benefits to Canadian society.”

“And, as WCMA has already pointed out to Health Canada, there are significant technical issues with the proposed regulation that render it unworkable.”

Vasami said the WCMA’s main beef with Health Canada comes down to a proposed regulation that window coverings need to meet a 45 N pull force standard for inner cords.

“This means that most of the ANSI-compliant stock product, even though it will be cordless, will not comply with Health Canada’s proposed regulations.”

“If Health Canada’s regulations proceed, millions of units of

ANSI-complaint product will have to be pulled from Canadian retailers’ shelves when the regulations come into effect.”

“Health Canada has chosen to ignore all the major manufacturers and instead base their regulation on the claim by one small supplier that it can produce a compliant product.”

WCMA also have several issues with Health Canada’s risk assessment calculations, cost assessment and cost-benefit assessments as part of the thinking behind the country’s new window covering safety regulation.

The ACCC is keeping an eye on both the recently updated US standards and the proposed Canadian standards as part of its review into our own safety standards.

“As a new mandatory standard has not been introduced to date we cannot assess whether Canada will move towards harmonising with new US requirements, or pursue unique and stricter requirements by banning cords that are more than 22 cm long or loops with a perimeter greater than 44 cm,” the ACCC said in its recent consultation document.