[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 43 (Monday, March 6, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12165-12166]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-5502]



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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

16 CFR Part 1700


Requirements for the Special Packaging of Household Substances; 
Opportunity for Oral Comment

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Opportunity for presentation of oral public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Commission announces an opportunity for the presentation 
of oral comments on two issues that were recently raised concerning 
amendments the Commission is considering to its regulations under the 
Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 (PPPA) for child-resistant 
packaging to change the child and adult tests under which child-
resistant packaging is evaluated.
    Immediately after issuing a rule amending the PPPA test protocol, 
the Commission was provided with comments on the final rule that had 
not previously been submitted to the agency during the course of the 
rulemaking. As a result, the Commission, on February 9, 1995, voted to 
withhold publication of the final rule in order to consider these new 
arguments.
    The new arguments can be summarized as follows. First, in 
establishing an adult test panel consisting of adults aged 60-75, the 
Commission allegedly exceeded its statutory authority to require that 
child-resistant packaging not be difficult for ``normal adults'' to use 
properly. Second, the rule allegedly addresses consumer convenience, 
rather than safety, which the comment claims is not properly the 
subject of a Commission regulation.
    The Commission has provided that written comments, limited to these 
two issues, may be submitted until March 7, 1995. In addition, the 
Commission is providing the opportunity for interested parties to 
present oral comments, on these two issues alone, limited to a maximum 
of 10 minutes per commenter.

DATES: Oral comments limited to the new issues described below may be 
presented to the Commission at a Commission hearing beginning at 10:00 
a.m., March 16, 1995. A request to present oral comments and an outline 
or text of the comments must be received by the Commission on or before 
March 10, 1995.

ADDRESSES: The hearing will be held in the Commission's Hearing Room, 
4330 East-West Highway, 4th Floor, Bethesda, MD 20814. Requests to 
present comments and outlines or text of the comments should be mailed 
to the Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
Washington, DC 20207, or delivered to the Office of the Secretary, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 501, 4340 East-West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne Barone, Ph.D., Project 
Manager, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207; 
telephone (301) 504-0477, ext. 1196.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 
(``PPPA''), 15 U.S.C. 1471-1476, authorizes the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission to issue requirements that certain household substances be 
sold in child-resistant (``CR'') packaging. Under the PPPA, the 
Commission has defined and established standards for such ``special'' 
packaging. 16 CFR 1700.1(b)(4), 1700.3, 1700.15, and 1700.20. The 
Commission has also determined which household substances are required 
to have the special packaging. 16 CFR 1700.14.
    Congress provided that to comply with the special packaging 
requirements, a package must resist entry by most young children and 
must be ``not difficult'' for ``normal adults'' to open and properly 
resecure, within specified time periods. 15 U.S.C. 1471(4). The 
Commission's existing regulations were developed before the widespread 
use of CR packaging (``CRP'') and, therefore, without the benefit of 
the actual use experience and test data that since have become 
available.
    The current adult test protocol, 16 CFR 1700.20(a) (4) and (5), 
specifies a test panel of 100 adults, ages 18 through 45 years. Seventy 
percent of the adults must be females and 30 percent must be males. The 
test period is 5 minutes. The adults are given the test package and 
asked to open and then properly close the package. For a package to 
meet the PPPA effectiveness criteria, at least 90 percent of the adults 
must be able to open and, if appropriate, properly close the package 
within the 5-minute test period. 16 CFR 1700.15(b)(2).
    Although the PPPA has significantly reduced the number of 
poisonings of young children, deaths and injuries resulting from these 
accidental ingestions continue to be a substantial problem. For 
example, in 1993 alone, approximately 140,000 children under 5 years 
old were treated in hospital emergency rooms for suspected or actual 
poisonings. Also in 1993, poison control centers received reports of 
more [[Page 12166]] than 6,000 poisonings of young children with 
``moderate'' or ``major'' (life-threatening) effects. In addition, 42 
children died in these accidents in 1992, the last year for which the 
Commission has complete data.
    During the more than 20 years since the PPPA was adopted, the 
Commission has found that, contrary to requirements of the PPPA, 
``normal'' adults of all ages have difficulty using typical CRP. 
Moreover, the Commission's data indicate that the difficulty in using 
CRP results in a substantial number of accidental ingestions by young 
children because adults purchase hazardous substances in non-CRP or 
disable CRP by leaving the caps off or loose or transferring the 
package contents to another container.
    Accordingly, the Commission sought to address the safety hazard 
created by difficult to open CRP. On January 19, 1983, the Commission 
published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (``ANPR'') outlining 
its concerns in this area and explaining and seeking comment on 
possible actions to increase the proper use of CRP, to simplify the 
test procedures, and to make the test procedures less affected by 
possible variables. 48 FR 2389.
    Older adults typically have the most difficulty with CRP. 
Therefore, in order to eliminate the currently-marketed CR package 
designs that are most difficult for ``normal adults'' of all ages to 
open, the Commission indicated that older adults, ages from 60-75 
years, could be substituted for the current panel of 100 18-45-year-
olds.
    After considering comments on the ANPR and other available 
information, the Commission proposed amendments to the protocol to 
address this problem. The proposed amendments would also change the 
protocol to make the test results more consistent and make the child 
test easier to perform. The Commission published its initial proposal 
in the Federal Register of October 5, 1990, for public comment. 55 FR 
40856.
    In addition to the requests for comments in January 1983 and 
October 1990 noted above, the Commission announced additional comment 
periods on March 5, 1991, (56 FR 9181) and March 21, 1994 (59 FR 
13264). The Commission's staff evaluated the comments received in 
response to each of these requests.
    On December 20, 1994, the Commission was briefed by its staff on 
the comments on the proposed rule and the changes recommended by the 
staff. On January 6, 1995, the Commission met and decided to approve 
the rule recommended by the staff, but to exclude from the scope of the 
rule those products that must be packaged in metal cans or aerosol 
form. The staff made appropriate changes to the draft Federal Register 
notice that would issue the final rule, and that notice was approved by 
the Commission on February 6, 1995.
    Immediately thereafter, the Coalition for Responsible Packaging, an 
industry group, raised concerns about the Commission's action. Most of 
these concerns already had been addressed in the rulemaking proceeding. 
Two concerns, however, had not been the subject of specific comments by 
interested parties in this rulemaking.
    Specifically, the new comments can be summarized as follows. First, 
in establishing an adult test panel consisting of adults aged 60-75, 
the Commission allegedly exceeded its statutory authority to require 
that child-resistant packaging not be difficult for ``normal adults'' 
to use properly. Second, the rule allegedly addresses consumer 
convenience, rather than safety, which the comment claims is not 
properly the subject of a Commission regulation. In addition, the 
second comment contends that to the extent that child-resistant 
packages exist that will pass the ``senior friendly'' test approved by 
the Commission, market forces will be an adequate and more appropriate 
mechanism to ensure that the more convenient packaging will be adopted.
    The Commission wanted to assure that it had an opportunity to 
consider these new arguments that had not previously been raised in the 
rulemaking. Accordingly, on February 8, 1995, the Commission voted 
unanimously to withhold publication of the Federal Register notice that 
would have issued the final rule, to consider the new arguments.
    On February 21, 1995, the Commission published a Federal Register 
notice announcing that written comments, limited to these two issues 
only, could be submitted until March 7, 1995. 60 FR 9654. The 
Commission has now decided to also receive oral comments on these two 
new issues. Oral comments on these new issues alone may be presented to 
the Commission at a Commission hearing beginning at 10:00 a.m., March 
16, 1995.
    A request to present oral comments and an outline or text of the 
comments must be received by the Commission on or before March 10, 
1995. The oral comments shall be limited to 10 minutes per commenter. 
The Commission reserves the right to further limit repetitious 
comments. Comments addressing other issues will not be considered.
    The hearing will be held in the Commission's Hearing Room, 4330 
East-West Highway, 4th Floor, Bethesda, MD 20814. Requests to present 
oral comments and outlines or text of the comments shall be mailed to 
the Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
Washington, D.C. 20207, or delivered to the Office of the Secretary, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 501, 4340 East-West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814.

    Dated: March 1, 1995.
Sadye E. Dunn,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 95-5502 Filed 3-2-95; 11:42 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P