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Last reviewed: September 2026 · Copy link

Importing children’s products from China: compliance guide

Importing children’s products from China makes you (the US importer) the certifying party: the CPC must be issued under your name, based on testing at a CPSC-accepted laboratory covering your exact product and factory. Since July 2026 the certificate data is also eFiled with Customs. The failure modes are known: supplier reports that are recycled or altered, missed eFiling, and documents that do not match the shipment.
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The importer’s China sourcing checklistThe three customs mistakes that get shipments held

The importer’s China sourcing checklist

  • Confirm the lab is CPSC-accepted and the report covers your exact product, factory, and production window.
  • Verify supplier test reports independently (lab verification email or report number) before relying on them.
  • Generate the CPC from verified data and keep it with the shipment documents.
  • Prepare the eFiling data elements for customs entry.
  • Inspect received goods against the tested sample: a material swap invalidates the certification.

The three customs mistakes that get shipments held

Certificates without matching eFiling data; certificates naming a different factory than the entry papers; and certificates citing rules the report never tested. All three are document problems, and all three are prevented by the generate-verify-archive workflow this site is built around.

Questions people ask

Can my Chinese supplier be the certifying party?

No: for imports, the US importer issues the CPC. The factory can arrange testing and even draft the document, but you certify it.

Does every shipment need a new CPC?

The certificate covers products identical in materials and design from the same source. New production runs typically rely on periodic re-testing: keep records linking shipments to the certificate.

Are Chinese test reports valid for a CPC?

Reports from CPSC-accepted labs (including Chinese facilities of major lab networks) are valid. Reports from non-accepted labs are not, no matter how official they look.

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