Lead in Paint and Similar Surface Coatings

Part 1303 covers paint and similar surface-coating materials for consumer use and specified articles bearing lead-containing paint, including toys and other articles intended for children and furniture for consumer use. The definitions and exemptions matter. The presence of painted metal does not by itself determine coverage, and the rule is not a universal limit for every industrial coating.

The operative lead threshold is 0.009 percent, or 90 ppm, calculated on the basis specified in the regulation. Read the dried-film and nonvolatile-content language when interpreting a result. Do not compare an undifferentiated whole-product result with the coating limit or treat the older 0.06 percent wording retained in historical regulatory text as today’s permissible concentration.

Paint and similar coatings form a solid film on a surface. The definition distinguishes printing inks, materials that become part of a substrate and specified bonded treatments. Product decoration can involve more than one process, so document how it is applied and what material was sampled. A commercial description such as “printed finish” does not settle its regulatory classification.

For covered children’s products, applicable third-party testing supports the CPC. Other covered consumer products can require a GCC. Identify coating color, supplier, formulation and finished-product application in the test record. Component evidence is useful only when the conditions for relying on it are met and the material actually used in production corresponds to the tested or certified component. Coating analysis may require separating the applied film from the underlying substrate.

Section 1303.3 lists exemptions, some of which require particular cautionary labeling. These provisions must be matched to the actual coating and use. A warning label cannot generally legalize prohibited lead paint on a toy or ordinary furniture. The regulation also defines what counts as furniture, distinguishing appliances, building fixtures and other articles for this purpose.

Maintain the relationship between coating specifications, reports and production lots. A replacement pigment or supplier may affect the result even when the visible color is unchanged. Evaluate accessible substrate lead separately for children’s products and retain other applicable product-safety assessments. The resulting file should support a precise statement about the covered coating and article, rather than a broad “non-toxic” or agency-approved claim.