A General Certificate of Conformity is a self-declaration by the U.S. manufacturer or importer (IOR) that a general-use consumer product complies with the CPSC safety rules it is subject to.

It is required only when the product is subject to one or more CPSC-enforced rules (e.g. mattress flammability, adult bicycle, trampoline ASTM reference). Products primarily intended for children 12 & under need a CPC, not a GCC.

No. This tool only prepares a draft from your manual entries. The certificate is legally issued and signed by you (or your U.S. IOR).

Testing laboratories, including CPSC-accepted ones, never "issue" the GCC — they only supply test data.

No. Test report upload is removed by design. You enter report number, date, lab name, and applicable standards manually.

The tool does not parse, extract, or verify anything from external files; suggested standards come from the selected product category and can be edited.

Standards like ASTM F381 / F2225 for trampolines are not backed by a 16 CFR mandatory rule — CPSC has no forced trampoline regulation, so they are voluntary references.

They may appear on a GCC, but must not be presented as CPSC-mandated citations. That suffix is added automatically by formatRuleForCert().

The form flags ambiguous categories and asks for intended user age. Your answer decides the path: 13+ → GCC draft; 12 & under → you should prepare a CPC instead, not a GCC.

This tool does not determine regulatory status for you.

Yes. This tool is for preparing a GCC draft for U.S. CBP clearance. The IOR must be a U.S. entity (typically holding an EIN and customs bond) registered with CBP at the time of entry.

Foreign manufacturers must file through their U.S. subsidiary or an authorized U.S. IOR service provider. The IOR company name, U.S. street address, city, state, and ZIP are all required fields.

If you are a non-U.S. company without a U.S. entity, you cannot use this tool directly — engage a U.S. IOR or customs broker first.

A single GCC may cover multiple batches or SKUs of the same model if the product is materially unchanged (same materials, components, factory, construction). See Q13 for the full criteria on when a new GCC is required.

This tool does not auto-version; you control the batch/lot note field in Section B.

No. CPSC does not require filing the PDF. Since July 8, 2026 many regulated imports must submit certificate data through CPSC eFiling (ACE/PGA).

This tool only outputs a draft for your IOR review and downstream eFiling — it is not connected to CBP or CPSC systems.

CPSC requires supporting records (test reports, reasonable testing program docs) for 5 years from the date the GCC is created.

This tool does not store your data; download and archive the HTML yourself.

Yes. Pre-filled rules are suggestions from getApplicableRules(). You are responsible for confirming they match your actual product and test report.

Wrong citations on a GCC are your liability, not the tool.

CPC vs GCC depends on fact-specific elements: intended age, product use, packaging and marketing claims, size/grade range, applicable mandatory standard, and whether the product is a children's product subject to third-party testing and certification. Those facts must be determined from your actual product, labeling, and sales context — not guessed.

This tool may highlight indicators (for example, age 12 and under, children's product signals, or rules that typically flow from a GCC basis), but it does not automatically issue a CPC/GCC legal determination. The compliance call and final classification stay with the U.S. importer/IOR and their counsel/responsible compliance owner, who review and sign.

Also, where a rule appears here as GCC-related, that reflects the CPSC "Rules Requiring a GCC" mapping only; it does not override CPC applicability when product facts and standards require a CPC.

A GCC is a legal self-declaration, not marketing copy or a summary. An AI can hallucinate rule numbers, misclassify product categories, or cite standards that do not match your actual product design, materials, age intent, or test records — and it will present fabricated citations with absolute confidence.

This tool takes the opposite approach. Applicable rules are not guessed or generated by AI. They are computed from a fixed, manually maintained rule dataset that is strictly aligned with the CPSC "Rules Requiring a GCC" official list (August 2024). When you select a product category, the tool retrieves the exact corresponding 16 CFR citations through a deterministic lookup — no hallucination, no improvisation, no "creative" rule matching. Standards that are not CPSC-mandated (e.g. ASTM trampoline references) are automatically flagged with an "(industry reference — non-mandatory)" suffix so they cannot be mistaken for legal requirements.

Even with this safeguard, all fields — product identification, applicable rules, test references, manufacturer/importer information, and signatures — must be entered, reviewed, and confirmed by you or your U.S. Importer of Record before use. Incorrect citations or inaccurate product data on a GCC remain the responsibility of the person or entity issuing/signing the certificate. This tool prepares a draft for review only; it is not legal review, certification, CPSC approval, or a guarantee of CBP/CPSC acceptance.

A GCC must describe the product(s) covered in enough detail to match the certificate to each product it covers and no others (16 CFR 1110.11(a)(1)). CPSC allows one GCC to list multiple products ONLY when they are materially identical in everything that affects compliance with the cited CPSC rules.

Same GCC is OK when the differences are non-safety appearance only — e.g. same model, same materials, same components, same construction, same factory, same production process, different color / print / size / packaging. List every covered SKU / GTIN / UPC / Model explicitly on the certificate, and state the production date range or lot range it covers.

You MUST issue a new GCC (or update the existing one and re-date it) when any material change occurs: change of material (metal, plastic, fabric, coating, filler), change of a safety-relevant component or supplier, change of design or assembly process, change of manufacturing site (even same parent company, different factory city/country), or a new CPSC rule/banned substance becomes effective for the product. A material change is anything a careful manufacturer knows or should know could affect compliance with an applicable rule (CPSC "General Use Products: Certification and Testing").

Component-level change: if only one component changed and it does not affect finished-product compliance with the cited rules, you may keep the prior test results for unchanged parts and add new test results for the changed component — then issue a revised GCC. If the change could affect finished-product compliance, retest the whole product and issue a new GCC.

Different model numbers with different materials/structure = separate GCC each. Do NOT put unrelated product lines (e.g. a stainless bottle + a backpack) on one GCC even if they share an IOR.

GCC has no expiration date, but it must always reflect the actual product shipped. Once a material change happens, the old GCC is stale for the new production — keep the old PDF for archive (5-year recordkeeping), generate a new draft for future entries.