In order to issue a standard, the Commission is required to determine that the benefits of a rule bear a reasonable relationship to its costs. According to the GAO, CPSC's analysis of fires that would be addressed by the proposed rule lacks precision. GAO noted that CPSC blends information from two different sources in order to project a national estimate of upholstered furniture fires. GAO's study basically questions whether CPSC's estimates of losses from upholstered furniture fires are accurate. If the data CPSC uses to estimate the benefits from the rule are overstated for any reason, the need for the rule is unproven.
Fires involving upholstered furniture represent a very small fraction of U.S. residential fires.
These are the fires addressed by CPSC's proposed rule. The results of the GAO study, together with the anticipated completion of the National Academy of Sciences Study on toxicity of chemicals which might be used to treat upholstery fabrics, could challenge the assumptions on which the proposed rule is based. Despite four years of work on this proposed standard, CPSC does not seem to be any closer to a conclusion. Look for further questions from the Congress on the need for an upholstered furniture rule. Bunk Bed Standard Published Companies manufacturing bunk beds must comply with CPSC's new bunk bed standard by June 19, 2000.