Battery Safety Bill Adopting Toy Safety Standards Signed into Law

August 22, 2022 | Reese’s Law, a priority bill advocated for by The Toy Association that adopts toy safety standards for batteries, was signed into law by President Biden on Tuesday, August 16. The bill seeks to safeguard children and other consumers from the dangers posed by button cell or coin batteries found in common household products. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support and was quickly passed through the House and Senate earlier this month.

Under the new law, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will now work to establish a mandatory requirement for child-resistant closures on a range of battery-operated consumer products beyond toys that utilize button or coin cells.

“Toy safety standards have long been a gold standard among consumer products and provided an ideal model for broader application of battery safety measures,” said Steve Pasierb, president & CEO of The Toy Association. “Our year-round efforts educating families on how to keep children safe at play, including battery safety, naturally extended to ardent support behind the passage of Reese’s Law. The Toy Association and our member companies remain committed to working with the CPSC to see Reese’s Law implemented to better protect children everywhere.”

As part of its advocacy for battery safety, The Toy Association testified before the Senate about battery safety and other product safety concerns last November and urged the CPSC to apply the toy industry model for battery safety to other products common in children’s environments during a CPSC priorities hearing in April.

Reese’s Law was named in honor of 18-month-old Reese Hamsmith who passed away in December 2020 after swallowing a button battery.

Click here to read The Toy Association’s official statement on button cell batteries.