I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4607
To provide for fire safety standards for cigarettes, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 25, 2002
Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. OLVER, Mr. NEAL of Massachu-
setts, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. FRANK, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr.
CAPUANO, Mr. LYNCH, and Mr. DELAHUNT) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To provide for fire safety standards for cigarettes, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as ‘‘Joseph Moakley Memorial
Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Cigarette ignited fires are the leading cause
of fire deaths in the United States.
(2) In 1998 there were 903 deaths from ciga-
rette ignited fires, 2,453 civilian injuries from such
fires, and $411,700,000 in property damage caused
by such fires.
(3) Nearly 100 children are killed each year
from cigarette related fires.
(4) The results accomplished under the Ciga-
rette Safety Act of 1984 and the Fire Safe Cigarette
Act of 1990 complete the necessary technical work
for a cigarette fire safety standard.
(5) It is appropriate for Congress to require by
law the establishment of a cigarette fire safety
standard for the manufacture and importation of
cigarettes.
(6) A recent study by the Consumer Product
Safety Commission found that the cost of the loss of
human life and personal property from not having a
cigarette fire safety standard is $4,600,000,000 a
year.
(7) It is appropriate that the regulatory exper-
tise of the Consumer Product Safety Commission be
used to implement a cigarette fire safety standard.
SEC. 3. CIGARETTE FIRE SAFETY STANDARD.
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) REQUIREMENT FOR STANDARD.—Not later
than 18 months after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Commission shall, by rule, prescribe
one or more fire safety standards for cigarettes to
reduce the risk of ignition presented by cigarettes.
(2) GENERAL TEST REQUIREMENTS.—
(A) TESTING METHODOLOGY.—Except as
provided in paragraph (3), in establishing
standards under paragraph (1), the Commission
shall use the testing methodology for deter-
mining the ignition propensity of cigarettes re-
ferred to in ‘‘Relative Ignition Propensity of
Test Market Cigarettes—National Institute of
Standards and Technology—NIST Technical
Note 1436, January, 2001—Appendix D: Ciga-
rette Extinction Method’’, together with any re-
quirements specified in this paragraph.
(B) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—Testing
shall be conducted on 10 layers of filter paper,
as described in the testing methodology referred
to in subparagraph (A).
(C) COMPLETE TEST TRIAL.—Forty rep-
licate tests shall be required to comprise a com-
plete test trial for each cigarette tested. Test
results and the application of an acceptance cri-
terion shall be derived only for complete test
trials comprised of 40 replicate tests.
(D) TEST FAILURE.—A test failure shall
consist of more than 25 percent of the ciga-
rettes tested in a test trial failing to self-extin-
guish before burning the full length of the to-
bacco column.
(3) CIGARETTES WITH UNIQUE CHARACTERIS-
TICS.—In establishing standards under paragraph
(1) with respect to a cigarette that cannot be tested
using the testing methodology referred to in para-
graph (2) because of unique or nontraditional char-
acteristics, the Commission shall accept a testing
methodology and acceptance criterion that are pro-
posed by the manufacturer or manufacturers of the
cigarette if the Commission, after review of the ap-
plication of the proposed testing methodology and
acceptance criterion, determines that the cigarette
has an ignition propensity equivalent to or less than
cigarettes that pass the acceptance criterion referred
to in paragraph (2).
(4) CIGARETTE PAPER.—In addition to estab-
lishing standards under paragraph (1), the Commis-
sion may also regulate the ignition propensity of cig-
arette paper for roll-your-own tobacco products.
(5) EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY.—If the Commis-
sion does not prescribe the standard required by
paragraph (1) within the time specified in that para-
graph, paragraph (1) shall continue to apply, and
the provisions of paragraph (2) shall be in effect as
a consumer product safety standard under the Con-
sumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.)
until the Commission prescribes the standard under
paragraph (1).
(b) STOCKPILING.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Commission shall in-
clude in the rule prescribed under subsection (a) a
prohibition on the stockpiling of cigarettes to which
the fire safety standards in the rule will apply.
(2) STOCKPILING
DEFINED.—In this sub-
section, the term ‘‘stockpiling’’, in the case of a ciga-
rette to which a standard under subsection (a) will
apply, means the manufacturing or importing of the
cigarette, between the date the standard is issued
and the date the standard takes effect, at a rate
greater than the rate the cigarette was manufac-
tured or imported during the one-year period ending
on the date the standard is issued.
(c) PROCEDURE.—