Consumer Product Safety Commission January 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff is hosting a test and evaluation (TE) forum on consumer products employing artificial intelligence-related (AI) technologies, such as Machine Learning (ML). This forum will identify current TE of AI and ML capabilities. CPSC staff invites interested parties to attend or participate in this forum via webinar.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) has determined preliminarily that there is an unreasonable risk of injury and death, particularly to children and teens, associated with ingestion of one or more high-powered magnets. To address this risk, the Commission proposes a rule, under the Consumer Product Safety Act, to apply to consumer products that are designed, marketed, or intended to be used for entertainment, jewelry (including children's jewelry), mental stimulation, stress relief, or a combination of these purposes, and that contain one or more loose or separable magnets. Toys that are subject to CPSC's mandatory toy standard are exempt from the proposed rule. Each loose or separable magnet in a product that is subject to the proposed rule and that fits entirely within CPSC's small parts cylinder would be required to have a flux index of less than 50 kG\2\ mm\2\. The Commission requests comments about all aspects of this notice, including the risk of injury, the proposed scope and requirements, alternatives to the proposed rule, and the economic impacts of the proposed rule and alternatives.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has determined preliminarily that custom window coverings with accessible operating cords that are longer than 8 inches pose an unreasonable risk of strangulation to children 8 years old and younger. To address this risk of strangulation, the Commission proposes a rule under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) to require that operating cords on custom window coverings meet the same requirements as operating cords on stock window coverings, as set forth in the applicable voluntary standard. Thus, the rule proposes that operating cords on custom window coverings must be cordless, inaccessible, or 8 inches or shorter in length in any use position. If finalized, operating cords on custom window coverings would require testing and certification to the rule under section 14 of the CPSA. Moreover, operating cords on custom window coverings that meet the definition of a ``children's product'' would require third party testing by a CPSC-accredited third party conformity assessment body. Accordingly, the rule also proposes to amend the Commission's regulation on requirements pertaining to third party conformity assessment bodies to add ``Safety Standard for Operating Cords on Custom Window Coverings'' to the list of rules that require third party testing.