CPSC lead paint ban, part 1303.

The ban in one paragraph

Section 1303.1(a) declares that "paint and similar surface-coating materials for consumer use that contain lead or lead compounds and in which the lead content (calculated as lead metal) is in excess of 0.06 percent (0.06 percent is reduced to 0.009 percent effective August 14, 2009 as mandated by Congress in section 101(f) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. 110-314) of the weight of the total nonvolatile content of the paint or the weight of the dried paint film" are banned hazardous products under sections 8 and 9 of the Consumer Product Safety Act. The regulation calls those materials "lead-containing paint."

Because the current number is written as a percentage, a conversion helps: 0.009 percent of a million is 90, so the limit is 90 parts per million by weight. That conversion is arithmetic on the number in the text, not a figure the CFR itself prints, and the checker above uses it only to accept ppm input.

Three banned product groups

The same paragraph adds two consumer product groups to the paint itself: "(1) Toys and other articles intended for use by children that bear lead-containing paint" and "(2) Furniture articles for consumer use that bear lead-containing paint." Section 1303.4 repeats the list as the banned hazardous products: paint and similar coatings that are lead-containing paint; toys and other articles for children bearing it; furniture bearing it. It applies to such products "manufactured after February 27, 1978," unless exempted by 1303.3.

Where the ban reaches

Section 1303.1(b) ties the ban to "consumer products" as the Consumer Product Safety Act defines them: products "customarily produced or distributed for sale to or for use, consumption, or enjoyment of consumers in or around a household, in schools, in recreation, or otherwise." It says "paints and coatings for motor vehicles and boats are not included within the scope of the ban because they are outside the statutory definition of consumer product." It also reaches beyond direct sales: the ban applies to products "used or enjoyed by consumers after sale, such as paints used in residences, schools, hospitals, parks, playgrounds, and public buildings or other areas where consumers will have direct access to the painted surface."

Definitions that decide edge cases

Section 1303.2 defines "paint and other similar surface-coating materials" as "a fluid, semi-fluid, or other material, with or without a suspension of finely divided coloring matter, which changes to a solid film when a thin layer is applied" to a surface such as metal, wood, stone, paper, leather, cloth or plastic. It does not include "printing inks or those materials which actually become a part of the substrate, such as the pigment in a plastic article, or those materials which are actually bonded to the substrate, such as by electroplating or ceramic glazing."

For children’s articles, the regulation covers articles "intended to be entrusted to or for use by children," and adds that this "would not include all articles to which children might have access simply because they are present in a household." A "furniture article" means movable articles that support people or things, or other functional or decorative furniture, with beds, bookcases, chairs, chests, tables, dressers, desks, pianos, console televisions and sofas given as examples. The definition excludes appliances (ranges, refrigerators, dishwashers, washers and dryers, air conditioners, humidifiers and dehumidifiers), fixtures (bathroom fixtures, built-in cabinets, chandeliers, windows and doors) and household items such as window shades, venetian blinds, wall hangings and draperies.

Exemptions that need a label: 1303.3(b)

Five categories are exempt if they carry the 1303.3(a) label statements: agricultural and industrial equipment refinish coatings; industrial and commercial building and equipment maintenance coatings, including traffic and safety marking coatings; graphic art coatings marketed solely for billboards, road signs and similar uses and identification marking in industrial buildings; touchup coatings for agricultural equipment, lawn and garden equipment, and appliances; and catalyzed coatings marketed solely for radio-controlled model powered aircraft.

The label must show on the main panel the signal word "Warning" (unless another signal word is required) and the statement "Contains Lead. Dried Film of This Paint May Be Harmful If Eaten or Chewed." It must also carry, or the practical equivalent, three cautions: not to apply on toys and other children’s articles, furniture, or interior surfaces of any dwelling or facility which may be occupied or used by children; not to apply on exterior surfaces of dwelling units, such as window sills, porches, stairs or railings, to which children may be commonly exposed; and to keep out of reach of children. If those cautions are on a side or back panel, the main panel must add "See other cautions on ____ panel." Placement, conspicuousness and contrast must meet 16 CFR 1500.121.

Exemptions with no label: 1303.3(c)

Three categories are exempt and "no cautionary labeling is required": mirrors that are part of furniture articles, to the extent they bear lead-containing backing paint; artists’ paints and related materials; and metal furniture articles (but not metal children’s furniture) bearing factory-applied lead coatings. The parenthetical on metal furniture matters: a metal crib or toy chest for children is not covered by that exemption.

Why the number moved

The findings in 1303.5 record the 1977 reasoning: the Commission found "an unreasonable risk of lead poisoning in children" from paint above 0.06 percent and noted that lead poisoning is a chronic hazard that emergency-room injury surveillance does not capture. The same section notes that an earlier Federal Hazardous Substances Act restriction at 0.5 percent lead existed in 16 CFR 1500.17(a)(6). The change to 0.009 percent came from Congress in section 101(f) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, as the text of 1303.1 states twice.

Worked example

A coatings lab reports 0.012 percent lead (as lead metal) in the dried film of a children’s room paint. In ppm that is 120. It is above 0.009 percent, so the paint is lead-containing paint under 1303.2(b)(2), and a retailer of that room paint would be selling a banned hazardous product unless a 1303.3 category applies. A second sample at 0.008 percent (80 ppm) is not above the limit. If instead the product were a traffic marking coating, it would fall in the 1303.3(b)(2) category and could stay on the market only if it carries the Warning label and cautions quoted above.

Limits of this page

The checker compares one number to 0.009 percent. It does not tell you how to sample or test paint, which test method a laboratory should use, or whether a product is a consumer product at all. Other parts of the CFR govern certification, and children’s product rules can add duties. For the certificate side, use the linked checker. Other CPSC standards point back to part 1303; the nursing pillow standard does so in 1242.3(a).

Sources

Sources opened and read November 2, 2026.

• eCFR: 16 CFR part 1303, ban of lead-containing paint and certain consumer products bearing lead-containing paint (current through October 29, 2026) (read November 2, 2026)