Reese’s Act Signed into Law

On August 16th, 2022, President Joe Biden signed Reese's Act into law. The bipartisan bill is named in honor of Reese Hamsmith, an 18-month-old toddler who passed away after ingesting a button cell battery from a remote control. The law protects children and other consumers against the accidental ingestion of button cell or coin batteries. This requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enact a consumer product safety standard requiring childproof closure for consumer products that use such batteries.

No later than one year after this Act's approval date, the Commission (according to Section 553 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code) shall issue an End-Use Consumer Product Safety Standard for Button Cell or Coin Cell batteries. Consumer products containing button cells or coin cell batteries should have:

-A Standard requires that button cell or coin cell battery compartments of a consumer product containing button cell or coin cell batteries be secured in such a manner as to eliminate or reduce the risk of injury from ingesting a coin or button battery by six-year-olds or younger.
-A Warning Label in the case of products where the consumer is not intended to replace or install the battery. It must be integrated directly into the consumer product in such a way as to be visible upon access to the battery compartment.

The exception is if the requirements for Warning Labels state:
(1) clearly identify the hazard of ingestion.
(2) instruct consumers to keep batteries out of the reach of children and to seek immediate medical attention if a battery is ingested.

No later than 180 days after the date of the enactment, any button cell or coin battery sold, offered for sale, manufactured for sale, distributed in commerce, imported into the United States, included separately with a consumer product sold, offered for sale, manufactured for sale, distributed in commerce, or imported into the United States, must be packaged in accordance with the standards outlined in section 1700.15 of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation.)

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