PPAI works to stay engaged with and at the forefront of regulatory and legislative issues affecting the promotional products industry, and communicating what it learns to businesses and professionals working in the field. PPAI Public Affairs Director Anne Stone is recently back from Washington, D.C., and Phoenix, Arizona, where she connected with both sides of that mission.

In D.C., Stone met with members of the coalition of companies, business groups and trade organizations PPAI has joined with in opposing the implementation of tariffs as a response to China’s trade practices. She joined the U.S. House Ways and Means meeting on tariffs, and participated in a series of meetings on the value of the global supply chain. While the coalition—comprised of more than 100 member organizations including the National Retail Federation and the Security Industry Association—agrees that China’s ongoing intellectual property rights violations, forced technology transfers and state interventions harm U.S. companies, workers, consumers and their competitiveness, it is concerned that the proposed tariff list, and escalating tariff threats made by the Administration will not change these harmful Chinese practices, and instead harm U.S. businesses and consumers.

While in D.C., Stone also joined a joint workshop hosted by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the International Consumer Products Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO) on proposed changes to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) age determination guidelines. Age labeling provides parents and other consumers guidance on selecting proper toys for children. The new guidelines are intended to address toys that have been introduced into the market since the last update in 2002 and provide changes to age groups for some classic toys. They take into account children's access to toys and changes in purchasing behavior among consumers.

In Phoenix, she joined the Peernet Group for their Peernetworks Meeting to participate in roundtable discussions with distributor attendees regarding product responsibility issues, with a focus on Prop 65. Prop 65, whose proper name is California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, covers more than 900 chemicals, and in August, new warning and identification protocols go into effect. PPAI provides several resources for industry businesses working to come into compliance with Prop 65 including an on-demand webinar on the regulations; a best practices guide that was updated in December 2017 and, among its state and municipal resources, Prop 65 warning samples that can be updated to suit industry businesses’ needs.