Source: https://www.global-regulation.com/law/united-states/29476/substantial-product-hazard-list%253a-seasonal-and-decorative-lighting-products.html
Timestamp: 2018-11-20 23:50:08
Document Index: 412094770

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1120', 'art 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', 'art 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', 'art 51', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120', '§ 1120']

Substantial Product Hazard List: Seasonal and Decorative Lighting Products (United States)
Link to law: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/text/raw_text/201/510/342.txt
The Commission is now issuing a final rule to amend part 1120 by adding three readily observable characteristics of seasonal and decorative lighting products: (1) Minimum wire size; (2) sufficient strain relief; and (3) overcurrent protection. After reviewing the comments, the Commission made two clarifications in the final rule to define more clearly products that do not fall within the scope of the rule. Additionally, based on the comments, the Commission has corrected a citation to Underwriters Laboratories (“UL”), Standard for Safety for Seasonal and Holiday Decorative Products, UL 588, 18th Edition, approved on August 21, 2000 (“UL 588”), in the final rule. As of the effective date of this rule, seasonal and decorative lighting products that do not contain any one of these three readily observable characteristics, as set forth in UL 588, are deemed to create a substantial product hazard under section 15(a)(2) of the CPSA.
Lighting products that are excluded from the scope of the rule are subject to different voluntary standards or do not present the same risk of injury. Based on the comments to the proposed rule, the final rule clarifies that “solar-powered products” are not within the scope of the rule because solar-powered seasonal lights are not connected to a 120-volt branch circuit and do not present the same risk of injury due to shock and fire. Additionally, the final rule clarifies the type of tube lighting that is not within the scope of the rule. The proposed rule used the phrase “flexible tube lighting strings of lights intended for illumination.” The final rule replaces this phrase with: “flexible lighting products incorporating non-replaceable series and series/parallel connected lamps enclosed within a flexible polymeric tube or extrusion.” The description of tube lighting was revised to clarify that such tube lighting is not covered by UL 588 but is covered by another UL standard, UL 2388 Flexible Lighting Products. This clarification is not intended to alter the scope of products covered by the rule; the revision is intended to clarify that flexible lighting products covered by UL 2388 are not within the scope of the rule. Staff Briefing Package: Final Rule to Amend 16 CFR part 1120 to Add Seasonal and Decorative Lighting Products, dated April 22, 2015 (“Staff Final Rule Briefing Package”) at 3, available at: http://www.cpsc.gov/Global/Newsroom/FOIA/CommissionBriefingPackages/2015/Final-Rule-to-Amend-Substantial-Product-Hazard-List-to-Include-Seasonal-and-Decorative-Lighting-Products.pdf.
UL 588-2000 is the current voluntary standard applicable to seasonal and decorative lighting products. UL 588 has been updated over the years to address various safety issues to make seasonal and decorative lighting products safer, see 79 FR 62083; Staff's Briefing Package on Seasonal and Decorative Lighting Products, dated October 2, 2014 (“Staff NPR Briefing Package”), Tab B, Abbreviated History of Seasonal and Decorative Lighting Products and the Associated UL Standard, at: http://www.cpsc.gov/Global/Newsroom/FOIA/CommissionBriefingPackages/2015/ProposedRuletoAmendSubstantialProductHazardListtoIncludeSeasonalandDecorativeLightingProducts.pdf. Specifically, UL 588, made effective on January 1, 1997, set forth the current requirements for overcurrent protection and minimum wire size; and the current strain relief requirement has been in effect since 1994.
Table 2 in the preamble to the NPR, at 79 FR at 62083, summarized the readily observable characteristics for seasonal and decorative lighting products. Table 2 was intended to present a summary of the relevant provisions of UL 588. As one commenter noted, the “strain relief” column shown in Table 2 in the preamble to the NPR cited SB16 of UL 588, instead of section SB15, and showed the strain relief load as 24 lbs. instead of 20 lbs. Table 1, below, is a revised version of Table 2 from the preamble to the NPR. Table 1 shows the correct citation to section SB15 of UL 588 and the correct strain relief loads. Staff Final Rule Briefing Package at 3-4.
UL 588 Section 6
Plugs/load fittings
UL 588 Sections 15 and 71
Lampholders UL 588
and SB15
Overcurrent protection qty. UL 588
With Load Fitting
20 (Polarized Plug) 22 (Non-Polarized Plug)
20 lbs (smaller than 18 AWG)
Without Load Fitting
22 (Polarized Plug) 22 (Non-Polarized Plug
With or Without Load Fitting
20 (XTW), 18 (all others) All Polarized Plugs
20 lbs. (20 AWG) 30 lbs. (18 AWG).
For the NPR, CPSC staff conducted a search of the Injury or Potential Injury Database (“IPII”), National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (“NEISS”), and the Death Certificate Database (“DTHS”) for incidents that involved seasonal and decorative lighting products reported between 1980 and May 2014. CPSC staff has updated this data and found a total of 133 fatal incidents causing 258 deaths, and 1,405 nonfatal incidents that involved seasonal and decorative lighting products that were in-scope and that occurred between 1980 and 2013. 1
For the final rule, staff searched for in-scope incidents reported from January 2014 through March 2015. CPSC staff found an additional 25 in-scope incidents that occurred in 2014, and staff identified seven incidents that occurred in 2015. All of the 25 incidents in 2014 were nonfatal incidents. One of the seven incidents in 2015 was a fatal incident that caused one death.
As noted in the preamble to the NPR, in numerous instances, CPSC staff has considered the absence of one or more of three readily observable characteristics (minimum wire size, sufficient strain relief, and overcurrent protection) to present a substantial product hazard and has sought appropriate corrective action to prevent injury to the public. 79 FR at 62084. Since the Commission published the NPR (from September 2014 to February 2015), CPSC has not conducted any recalls of seasonal and decorative lighting products, and identified 11 shipments at import involving a total of approximately 37,000 lighting units, where the seasonal and decorative lighting products may not comply with UL 588. See Tab D of Staff Final Rule Briefing Package.
• The characteristics involved must be “readily observable”;
Codifying that the absence of any of three safety characteristics for seasonal and decorative lighting products constitutes a substantial product hazard should streamline CPSC's enforcement efforts. Once the rule is final, CPSC will no longer need to rely on a staff preliminary determination of a substantial product hazard, and re-address this issue with each importer or manufacturer in each instance. Instead, CPSC can rely on the Commission's determination of a substantial product hazard for seasonal and decorative lighting products that are missing any of three readily observable characteristics, and then staff can proceed directly to negotiating a recall or seizure of the products without delay. Finally, when noncompliant lighting products are found at the ports, CPSC can rely on the rule to request that Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) seize the defective products through its authority under the Tariff Act. This streamlined process should reduce Commission staff and the monetary resources required to prevent defective products from entering the market.
The Commission did not define a “readily observable” characteristic in either [previous] rule. In the proposed drawstring rule (75 FR 27497, 27499, May 17, 2010), the Commission found that the requirements detailed in the relevant voluntary standard could be evaluated with “simple manipulations of the garment, simple measurements of portions of the garments, and unimpeded visual observation.” The Commission stated: “more complicated or difficult actions to determine the presence or absence of defined product characteristics also may be consistent with `readily observable.' ” Finally, the Commission stated its intent to evaluate “readily observable” characteristics on a case-by-case basis.
• Solar-powered products (either direct powered solar, or one with a storage system that is used when the sun is not out, such as a rechargeable battery to power the lights).
• Flexible Lighting Products, as covered in the scope of UL 2388 (described as “Flexible Tube Lighting Strings” in the proposed rule).
Response 14: The Commission agrees with the commenter that the scope of the rule is not intended to include the types of products listed above. Section 1120.2(d) of the final rule already states that battery-operated products, products that operate from a transformer or low-voltage power supply; flexible tube lighting [clarified in response 15 below] intended for illumination; and portable electric lamps that are used to illuminate seasonal decorations are all outside the scope the rule. Products listed as out of scope are excluded because they are not subject to the same types of hazards as products within the scope of the rule; or, such products are not subject to UL 588, but rather, are subject to a different voluntary standard. The definition in § 1120.2(d) of the final rule has been clarified to state that solar-powered lights are not within the scope of the rule because solar-powered seasonal lights are not connected to a 120 volt branch circuit and do not present the same risk of injury of shock and fire. Thus, § 1120.2(d) of the final rule now lists “solar-powered products” as outside the scope of the final rule.
Response 15: The Commission agrees that the term “flexible tube lighting strings” could be misconstrued to exempt some products that are covered by UL 588. Accordingly, the definition of “seasonal and decorative lighting products” in § 1120.2(d) of the final rule has been changed from the phrase “flexible tube lighting strings of lights intended for illumination” to the phrase “flexible lighting products incorporating non-replaceable series and series/parallel connected lamps enclosed within a flexible polymeric tube or extrusion” to describe out-of-scope lighting products. The Commission believes that this language, taken from UL 2388, the voluntary standard that applies to flexible lighting, will clarify that flexible lighting products subject to UL 2388 are not within the scope of the rule. This clarification is not intended to alter the scope of products covered by the rule; the revision merely clarifies that flexible tube lighting products covered by UL 2388 are not within the scope of the rule.
Response 17: Table 1 in the NPR provided a non-exhaustive list of examples of lighting products that fall within, and outside of, the scope of the proposed rule. Ornaments that replace a push-in mini-bulb do not fall within the definition of products in § 1120.2(d) of the rule because these products do not have 120 volt input ratings. Additionally, in the experience of CPSC staff, ornaments, regardless of whether they are lighted or unlighted (including motorized and electronic items), have not presented the same hazard as products within the scope of the rule. In fact, CPSC has not found any such products in its archives to present a substantial product hazard.
Comment 18: One commenter pointed out a typographical error in section II of the NPR, item 2, on page 62085, “Sufficient Strain Relief,” of the preamble. The commenter states the correct reference for the method of strain relief testing demonstrated in the NPR should be section SB15 instead of section SB16, which also changes the strain relief load cited in Table 2 from 24 lb. weight to a 20 lb. weight. The commenter also suggested changing the reference of section 79 to paragraph 79.2 in section II of the NPR, item 2, on page 62085 because of the method of testing demonstrated in the NPR. In addition, the commenter noted that the testing method in section II of the NPR, item 2, on page 62085, “Sufficient Strain Relief,” is vague and unrepeatable by specifying that wire is not allowed to “stretch,” as the wire will normally stretch in this test. UL 588 specifies that the wire not stretch more than 1/16 ″ at the entry point of the wire to the lampholder, not that the wire below that point cannot stretch.
Conformance to sections 6, 7, 15, 71, 79, and SB15 of UL 588, as summarized in Table 1 in section I.D of this preamble, has been effective in reducing the risk of injury from shock and fire associated with below-minimum wire size, insufficient strain relief, and lack of overcurrent protection. CPSC's incident data demonstrate that conformance to UL 588 has coincided with, and may have contributed to, a decline in the risk of injury associated with seasonal and decorative lighting products.
Average Nonfatal Incidents per year
Standards incorporated by reference. Additionally, at the request of the Office of the Federal Register (“OFR”), the Commission is making a technical amendment to part 1120. This technical amendment adds a new section, 1120.4, listing all of the incorporations by reference (“IBR”) for products added to the substantial product hazard list. Thus, the IBR for hand-supported hair dryers and draw strings on children's upper outwear is moved from § 1120.3 to the new § 1120.4. No substantive change is being made to the rule regarding hand-supported hair dryers or drawstrings on children's upper outerwear. The IBR for seasonal and decorative lighting products is also included in the new § 1120.4.
In accordance with the OFR's requirements, this preamble summarizes the relevant provisions of UL 588. Table 1 in section I.D of this preamble summarizes the requirements of UL 588. Interested persons may purchase a copy of UL 588 from UL either through UL's Web site, www.UL.com, or by mail at the address provided in the rule. A copy of the standard also can be inspected at the CPSC's Office of the Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or at NARA, as provided in the rule.
§ 1120.2
§ 1120.3
§ 1120.4
(a) The standards required in this part are incorporated by reference (“IBR”) into this section with the approval of the Director of the Federal Register under 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. You may inspect all approved material at the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814, telephone 301-504-7923, or at the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”). For information on the availability of this material at NARA, call 202-741-6030, or go to: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/cfr/ibr-locations.html .
(1) ASTM F 1816-97, Standard Safety Specification for Drawstrings on Children's Upper Outerwear, approved June 10, 1997, published August 1998 (“ASTM F 1816-97”), IBR approved for § 1120.3(b).
(c) Underwriters Laboratories, Inc (“UL”), 333 Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, IL 60062 or through UL's Web site: www.UL.com .
(1) UL 588, Standard for Safety for Seasonal and Holiday Decorative Products, 18th Edition, approved August 21, 2000 (“UL 588”), IBR approved for § 1120.3(c).
(2) UL 859, Standard for Safety for Household Electric Personal Grooming Appliances, 10th Edition, approved August 30, 2002, and revised through June 3, 2010 (“UL 859”), IBR approved for § 1120.3(a).
(3) UL 1727, Standard for Safety for Commercial Electric Personal Grooming Appliances, 4th Edition, approved March 25, 1999, and revised through June 25, 2010 (“UL 1727”), IBR approved for § 1120.3(a).