The Global Standard for Consumer Products, Issue 3 (CP-3) 

Background

RILA members’ interest in a proactive approach to consumer product safety was heightened by high profile recalls in 2007 and 2008.  RILA members were challenged by the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), by officials of the last Administration, and by the present Chair of the CPSC, to take proactive steps to assure that consumers can have confidence in the safety of products they buy.

On January 25, 2009, the RILA Board of Directors approved the formation of a partnership with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to establish a retail-led global product safety standard: the Global Standard for Consumer Products, Issue 3 (CP-3).  The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is the lead trade association for the UK retail industry, as well as a standards development organization, with many of BRC’s existing standards recognized by COFRAC, UKAS, DAP and SAS.  BRC possesses the existing technical infrastructure to support this initiative and a membership that, in many cases, have the same suppliers as RILA members.  The BRC also has a well-established and widely adopted safety standard for Food, which several RILA members utilize.

With the combined efforts of RILA, the BRC, and the North American and European Union Technical Advisory Committee’s consisting of retailers and certification bodies, the CP-3 was created.  The CP-3 is a process standard prescribing capability and competency requirements for manufacturing safe and compliant products.

BRC/RILA CP-3

The CP-3 consists of a detailed set of requirements to provide manufacturers with a framework to ensure the production of safe products.   It is designed to assist consumer product manufacturers to adopt good manufacturing practices, quality management systems, and safe packaging materials to meet their customer’s quality requirements. It consists of eight sections for factories to consider: senior management commitment and continual improvement, risk management, management system, site standards, product control, product conformity assessment, process control, and personnel.  Factory compliance to the CP-3 is assessed and audited through a scored, prescriptive site assessment.

The CP-3 is suitable for any manufacturing or operating assembly of consumer products for sale to retailers or wholesalers.  It is not country specific and can be used anywhere in the world.  It is supported by a growing number of retailers worldwide, and will be available in numerous languages, including English, German, Dutch, and common Chinese. 

Adhering to the requirements of the CP-3 ensures that the best practice standards are developed, implemented, and maintained for manufacturers and assembly packers of consumer products.  The CP-3 enables manufacturers and retailers to both achieve their aims of establishing a set of objectives to help ensure a certain standard of product is met.  Likewise, by creating a uniform guideline, the CP-3 greatly reduces duplication on suppliers for audits and other requirements made by retailers.  Instead of each retailer auditing to their own product safety requirements, they will use one toolkit for audits, clearly and consistently defining retail safety expectations for suppliers. 

The requirements in the CP-3 are designed to:

  • Satisfy the legal requirement to demonstrate compliance with U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations
  • Focus on the importance of the design and assembly of products in terms of being 'fit for purpose' and safe for consumers
  • Clearly define the requirements of the customer for the supplier
  • Ensure consistency of safety, legality, and quality of products to the customer


Guideline and Guidance Documents

To accompany the CP-3, a general guideline and category specific guidance documents will exist to help manufacturing sites understand the CP-3 requirements and achieve safety rigor in high risk categories.