I guess it is.
Wiki (couldn't find anything more specific):
The
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires all class IIIb and class IV lasers offered in commerce in the US to have five standard safety features: a key switch, a safety interlock dongle, a power indicator, an aperture shutter, and an emission delay (normally two to three seconds). OEM lasers, designed to be parts of other components (such as DVD burners) are exempt from this requirement. Some non-portable lasers may not have a safety dongle or an emission delay, but have an emergency stop button and/or a remote switch.
But clearly this is not real ban. But those chinese stuff would have mostly problems with these too. I guess they had troubles with some purchases, so they canceled the whole product class.
Edit: here's something more:
http://www.lasercompliance.com/faq.htm