Consumer Product Safety Commission October 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Portable Fuel Container Safety Act of 2020 (PFCSA) provides that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission) must promulgate a rule to require flame mitigation devices in portable fuel containers that impede the propagation of flame into the container, unless the Commission determines that there is a voluntary standard for flame mitigation devices that achieves the same result. In January 2023, the Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of its determinations under the PFCSA that three such voluntary standards collectively apply to all known classes of portable fuel containers. Pursuant to the PFCSA, therefore, the requirements of the three voluntary standards are treated as a consumer product safety rule under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). ASTM then notified the Commission that one standard had been revised. The Commission evaluated the revised standard and found that the revisions carry out the purposes of the PFCSA. Accordingly the revisions will be incorporated into the mandatory standard for portable fuel containers. This direct final rule creates a new part codifying the incorporation by reference of this revised standard and the other two voluntary standards that are mandatory under the PFCSA.

The Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act, section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), requires the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) to promulgate consumer product safety standards for durable infant or toddler products. These standards are to be substantially the same as applicable voluntary standards, or more stringent than the voluntary standards if the Commission concludes that more stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury associated with the product. The Commission is proposing a safety standard for Infant and Infant/Toddler Rockers (rockers). The Commission is also proposing to amend CPSC's consumer registration requirements to add rockers as identified durable infant or toddler products and to amend CPSC's list of notice of requirements (NORs) to include rockers.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) has determined preliminarily that there is an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with residential gas fired central furnaces, boilers, wall furnaces, and floor furnaces (gas furnaces and boilers). To address this risk, the Commission proposes a rule to detect and prevent dangerous levels of carbon monoxide (CO) production and leakage from residential gas furnaces and boilers. The Commission is providing an opportunity for interested parties to present written and oral comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR).

The Commission publishes in the Federal Register any settlement that it provisionally accepts under the Consumer Product Safety Act. Published below is a provisionally accepted Settlement Agreement with BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., containing a civil penalty in the amount of $9,000,000, subject to the terms and conditions of the Settlement Agreement. The Commission voted unanimously (4-0) to provisionally accept the proposed Settlement Agreement and Order pertaining to BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.