CPSC eFiling Readiness Checklist
Nine things to have ready before your broker files a shipment's CPSC certificate data in ACE. Each one explains what it is and why CPSC asks for it. Free, no signup, and the checklist runs in your browser: nothing you tick is sent anywhere or saved.
This is an assembly checklist, not a compliance determination. It does not decide which rules apply to your product or whether it complies. Importers with complex products should work with trade counsel or a licensed customs broker.
The checklist
From the Certificates of Compliance rule, 16 CFR part 1110, and the CPSC eFiling Implementation Guide, version 2.4 (May 2026).
Children's products need a Children's Product Certificate (CPC) based on testing by a CPSC-accepted third-party lab. Other regulated consumer products need a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC), based on a test of each product or a reasonable testing program, with no third-party lab requirement.
How to check: Run the product through CPSC\'s Regulatory Robot, once per product. It is a guide to the requirements to review, not a ruling.
The certificate has to give the most recent date and place of testing, including each lab the certificate relies on. For a CPC the lab must be CPSC-accepted. In the eFiling message, a testing lab entry must carry the lab's four-digit CPSC Lab ID.
How to check: Find the lab in CPSC\'s accepted lab search and copy its Lab ID onto your record for this product.
The certificate must state each consumer product safety rule, or similar rule, ban, standard or regulation enforced by CPSC, that the product is certified to. A missing citation means the certificate does not cover that requirement.
How to check: Compare the citation list with the Regulatory Robot results and the test report. Every requirement tested should be cited, and every citation tested or excluded.
The certificate gives the most recent testing date. For children's products, periodic testing is required at least once a year, or every two or three years under the conditions in 16 CFR 1107.21. General-use products rest on a test of each product or a reasonable testing program, with no fixed interval.
How to check: Check the last test date against your periodic testing plan and the 16 CFR 1107.21 intervals that apply to you.
The certificate must identify the finished product certifier, for imports usually the importer, with name, street address, city, state or province, country, email and telephone, plus the person who keeps the test records.
How to check: Read the certifier block on the certificate against your importer of record details. Old addresses and shared inboxes are easy to miss.
A Reference filing sends identifiers instead of the full data. CPSC names three: the Certifier ID (created with your Product Registry business account), the Product ID (one of GTIN, SKU, UPC, model number, serial number, registered number or alternate ID) and the Version ID of the certificate.
How to check: Send the broker all three for every product on the entry, and make sure the Version ID is the version that matches the goods shipped.
Full means all certificate data is filed in the CPSC message set at the time of entry. Reference means the data is already in CPSC's Product Registry and the entry carries a reference to it. Both you and your broker need to know which one this entry uses.
How to check: Agree with your broker, product by product, which method you use, and who holds the data each method needs.
With a Reference filing, the importer enters the certificate data in the CPSC Product Registry before the entry is filed, then the entry references it. Data that is not there yet cannot be referenced.
How to check: Log in to the Product Registry and confirm the certificate and its version exist before the broker files.
eFiling has applied to most regulated products since July 8, 2026. For products imported into a foreign-trade zone and then entered for consumption or warehousing, it applies from January 8, 2027.
How to check: Mark which of your products move through a foreign-trade zone, and plan their filings for the later date.
Start with item 1: everything else depends on knowing which certificate the product needs.
Want this machine-checked?
This checklist covers the main assembly steps. If you want the full certificate package machine-checked before filing, tell us with one click. We count clicks only: no email, no name, nothing from the checklist. It is not an order, and no product or date is promised.
Questions
When did CPSC eFiling become mandatory?
The Certificates of Compliance rule requires certificate data to be filed electronically with the entry in ACE for most regulated consumer products from July 8, 2026. Products imported into a foreign-trade zone and then entered for consumption or warehousing follow on January 8, 2027.
What is the difference between Full and Reference filing?
Full means all the certificate data goes into the CPSC message set at the time of entry. Reference means the data is already in CPSC's Product Registry, and the entry carries the Certifier ID, Product ID and Version ID that point to it.
What can happen if a certificate is missing?
Under the Consumer Product Safety Act, a product that is not accompanied by a required certificate shall be refused admission. Civil penalties under the Act are up to $120,000 for each violation and $17,150,000 for a related series of violations, under the most recent inflation adjustment (effective 2022); a new adjustment is due in December 2026.
Is this legal advice?
No. This is an assembly checklist, not a compliance determination. Importers with complex products should work with trade counsel or a licensed customs broker.
Sources: 16 CFR part 1110; the final rule, 90 FR 1800 (January 8, 2025); the CPSC eFiling Implementation Guide v2.4; the Product Registry FAQ v1.4; 16 CFR 1107.21; CPSC civil penalty adjustment (2021); 15 U.S.C. 2066(a). SpreadRun is not affiliated with or endorsed by CPSC or CBP.
Also free: other compliance tools.
Get a reminder before the next CPSC eFiling date
eFiling for foreign-trade zone entries starts January 8, 2027. Sign up and we will email you before it, and when there is a new free tool.
Optional. The tool above runs in your browser; your email is sent to SpreadRun only if you submit this form. See the Privacy Policy.