[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 207 (Friday, October 25, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 85077-85078]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24130]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

16 CFR Parts 1220 and 1221

[Docket No. CPSC-2024-0034]


Revision to the Voluntary Standard for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs 
and Play Yards

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice of revised standard; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Two of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's 
(Commission or CPSC) mandatory rules, Safety Standard for Non-Full-Size 
Baby Cribs and Safety Standard for Play Yards, incorporate by reference 
the same voluntary standard, ASTM F406, Standard Consumer Safety 
Specification for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs/Play Yards. The Safety 
Standard for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs incorporates the 2022 version of 
ASTM F406, and the Safety Standard for Play Yards incorporates the 2019 
version of ASTM F406. ASTM notified the Commission that it has revised 
ASTM F406 and published ASTM F406-2024. CPSC seeks comment on whether 
adopting the revised voluntary standard would improve the safety of 
non-full-size cribs and/or play yards.

DATES: Comments must be received by November 8, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You can submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2024-
0034, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit through this 
website: confidential business information, trade secret information, 
or other sensitive or protected information that you do not want to be 
available to the public. CPSC typically does not accept comments 
submitted by email, except as described below.
    Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier/Confidential Written Submissions: CPSC 
encourages you to submit electronic comments by using the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal. You may, however, submit comments by mail, hand 
delivery, or courier to: Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; 
telephone: (301) 504-7479. If you wish to submit confidential business 
information, trade secret information, or other sensitive or protected 
information that you do not want to be available to the public, you may 
submit such comments by mail, hand delivery, or courier, or you may 
email them to: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0b687b78682664784b687b7868256c647d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4e2d3e3d2d63213d0e2d3e3d2d60292138">[email protected]</span></a>.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number. CPSC may post all comments without change, including any 
personal identifiers, contact information, or other personal 
information provided, to: https://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit to 
this website: confidential business information, trade secret 
information, or other sensitive or protected information that you do 
not want to be available to the public. If you wish to submit such 
information, please submit it according to the instructions for mail/
hand delivery/courier/confidential written submissions.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to: https://www.regulations.gov, and insert the 
docket number, CPSC-2024-0034, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frederick DeGrano, Project Manager, 
Division of Mechanical and Combustion Engineering, U.S. Consumer 
Product Safety Commission, 5 Research Place, Rockville, MD 20850; 
telephone: (301) 987-2711; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c7a1a3a2a0b5a6a9a887a4b7b4a4e9a0a8b1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b7d1d3d2d0c5d6d9d8f7d4c7c4d499d0d8c1">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product 
Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) requires the Commission to adopt 
mandatory standards for durable infant or toddler products. 15 U.S.C. 
2056a(b)(1). Mandatory standards must be ``substantially the same as'' 
voluntary standards, or they may be ``more stringent'' than the 
applicable voluntary standards, if the Commission determines that more 
stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury 
associated with the products. Id. Mandatory standards may be based, in 
whole or in part, on a voluntary standard.
    Section 104(b)(4)(B) of the CPSIA specifies the process for when a 
voluntary standards organization revises a standard that the Commission 
incorporated by reference under section 104(b)(1). First, the voluntary 
standards organization must notify the Commission of the revision. Once 
the Commission receives this notification, the Commission may reject or 
accept the revised standard. To reject a revised standard, the 
Commission must notify the voluntary standards organization within 90 
days of receiving the notice of revision that the Commission has 
determined that the revised standard does not improve the safety of the 
consumer product and that CPSC is retaining the existing standard. If 
the Commission does not take this action, the revised voluntary 
standard will be considered a consumer product safety standard issued 
under section 9 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2058), 
effective 180 days after the Commission received notification of the 
revision (or a later date specified by the Commission in the Federal 
Register). 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(4)(B).
    Under this authority, the Commission issued two mandatory safety 
rules that incorporate by reference applicable provisions of ASTM F406: 
Safety Standard for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs, codified at 16 CFR part 
1220 (75 FR 81787, Dec. 28, 2010), and Safety Standard for Play Yards, 
codified at 16 CFR part 1221 (77 FR 52228, Aug. 29, 2012). These 
mandatory standards include performance requirements and test methods, 
as well as requirements for warning labels and instructions, to address 
hazards to children. After the Commission's promulgation of these final 
rules, ASTM published several revisions to ASTM F406 that the 
Commission considered for incorporation by reference in the mandatory 
rules, parts 1220 and 1221. Most recently, in 2023, the Commission 
revised the non-full-size (NFS) cribs mandatory standard to incorporate 
by reference ASTM F406-2022, but rejected ASTM F406-2022 as it applied

[[Page 85078]]

to play yards. 88 FR 13686 (Mar. 6, 2023) (NFS cribs); March 2, 2023, 
Letter to K. Morgan, President, ASTM International (play yards).\1\ 
Accordingly, the NFS cribs mandatory rule currently incorporates the 
2022 version of ASTM F406 and the play yard mandatory rule currently 
incorporates the 2019 version of ASTM F406.
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    \1\ Available at: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/Play-Yard-PL112-28-Letter-to-ASTM-3-3-2023.pdf?VersionId=qKf310sZqWpkJlZtiqXEETeswtfzJlVt.
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    On October 7, 2024, ASTM notified the Commission that it had 
approved and published another revised version of the voluntary 
standard, ASTM F406-2024. CPSC staff is assessing the revised voluntary 
standard to determine, consistent with section 104(b)(4)(B) of the 
CPSIA, its effect on the safety of NFS cribs subject to 16 CFR part 
1220, and, separately, the safety of play yards subject to 16 CFR part 
1221. The Commission invites public comment on those questions to 
inform staff's assessment and subsequent Commission consideration of 
the revisions in ASTM F406-2024.\2\
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    \2\ The Commission voted (5-0) to publish this notice.
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    The currently incorporated voluntary standards (ASTM F406-2019 and 
ASTM F406-2022) and the revised voluntary standard (ASTM F406-2024) are 
available for review in several ways. A read-only copy of the existing, 
incorporated standards are available for viewing, at no cost, on the 
ASTM website at: https://www.astm.org/READINGLIBRARY/. A read-only copy 
of the revised standard (ASTM F406-2024), including red-lined versions 
that identify the changes from the 2019 and 2022 versions to the 2024 
version, are available, at no cost, on ASTM's website at: https://www.astm.org/CPSC.htm. Interested parties can also download copies of 
the standards by purchasing them from ASTM International, 100 Barr 
Harbor Drive, P.O. Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959; phone: 
610-832-9585; https://www.astm.org. Alternatively, interested parties 
can schedule an appointment to inspect copies of the standards at 
CPSC's Office of the Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814, telephone: 301-
504-7479.
    Comments must be received by November 8, 2024. Because of the short 
statutory time frame Congress established for the Commission to 
consider revised voluntary standards under section 104(b)(4) of the 
CPSIA, CPSC will not consider comments received after this date.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2024-24130 Filed 10-24-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P


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