Opinion ID: 415382
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY ACT vs. THE FEDERAL

Text: HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ACT 50 One procedural issue is tangential to our present review of the rule. It may nevertheless become important if the Commission wishes to take action with respect to UFFI in the future. The industry contends that the Consumer Product Safety Act is an improper vehicle for this rulemaking; that the rule should have been promulgated pursuant to the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, 15 U.S.C. Secs. 1261-1276. The rulemaking procedures mandated by the two acts differ substantially. The Consumer Product Safety Act provides for an informal rulemaking. 23 In contrast, the Federal Hazardous Substances Act requires a formal hearing, complete with rules of evidence and the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses. See 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1262(a)(2). The Commission's failure to conduct such a hearing is the substantive reason for the industry's procedural objection. 51 Congress has mandated which act's procedures the Commission must follow. In 15 U.S.C. Sec. 2079(d), the Consumer Product Safety Act provides: 52 A risk of injury which is associated with a consumer product and which could be eliminated or reduced to a sufficient extent by action under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act ... may be regulated under this [Act] only if the Commission by rule finds that it is in the public interest to regulate such risk of injury under this [Act]. 53 The Commission thus can proceed under the less stringent procedural provisions of the Consumer Product Safety Act if it satisfies one of two tests. It must show either that the risk could not be regulated sufficiently under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act or that it is in the public interest to proceed under the Consumer Product Safety Act rather than the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. The Commission asserts that it has met both tests. 54 In support of its finding that UFFI could not be regulated adequately under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the agency points out that that Act is limited in scope to products for use in the household. 15 U.S.C. Sec. 126(q)(1)(B). See Barnes v. Litton Indus. Prod., Inc., 555 F.2d 1184 (4th Cir.1977). Unlike the final rule here, a regulation promulgated under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act could not have banned UFFI in schools. Additionally, the Commission notes that its original proposed rule extended to all buildings, not just homes and schools. 464 Fed.Reg. 11,188 (1981). The Commission argues that the intended scope of the rule when the proceeding was initiated should be determinative. Because the proposed rule was unlimited, the agency asserts that the Federal Hazardous Substances Act was wholly inadequate and its decision to proceed under the Consumer Product Safety Act cannot be challenged. 55 We reject the Commission's reliance on the need to regulate UFFI in schools to justify proceeding under the Consumer Product Safety Act. The record is totally devoid of evidence to support extension of the ban to schools. From the beginning the Commission focused its attention exclusively on homes. The cancer risk assessment used the formaldehyde levels found in the in-home tests 24 to predict the risk to a person present in a UFFI home for sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. No academic institution was shown to have a curriculum requiring such constant attendance. The in-depth investigations of acute effects also ignored schools. Only one complaint was received regarding a school. It was not investigated. We cannot understand why the Commission decided to extend the ban to schools unless it was to justify its decision to proceed under the Consumer Product Safety Act. Because the ban in schools was completely unsubstantiated, we find that it was insufficient for this purpose. 56 The agency's argument that a Consumer Product Safety Act rulemaking was justified because the proposed ban was unlimited is also unpersuasive. The initial selection of procedures must be based on assumptions made at the outset of the rulemaking. But if it immediately becomes apparent, as it did here, that other procedures should control, those procedures must be used. The record clearly demonstrates that the Commission never made any real attempt to address the risk from UFFI in buildings other than homes. This belies the major premise underlying the initial decision to proceed under the Consumer Product Safety Act, a decision that denied the industry important procedural rights guaranteed by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. In our view the differences between the acts demand an ongoing evaluation of the facts as they develop. We need not decide here the extreme case where last minute proof indicates a change of procedures. Because the record makes clear that from the outset the Commission's entire effort was channelled to investigating the risk of UFFI in homes, we reject the finding that the risk could not have been regulated sufficiently under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. 57 The Commission's finding that it was in the public interest to regulate UFFI under the Consumer Product Safety Act was based solely on a desire to avoid the complex and lengthy nature of the rulemaking proceeding that would be required under the FHSA .... 47 Fed.Reg. at 14,369. We reject this reasoning. If the due process procedures mandated by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act justify discarding it, the Commission would never have to use it. Congress has provided otherwise. Rulemaking under the Consumer Product Safety Act is to be the exception, not the rule. We do not say that it could never be in the public interest to regulate an extremely dangerous product under the Consumer Product Safety Act for the sake of speed and efficiency. We say only that UFFI is not such a product. 58 The Commission's decision to continue its rulemaking under the Consumer Product Safety Act was improper. The selection of procedures is too important to be based on unexplored theories and desires for administrative convenience. Any future regulatory effort directed at UFFI must be made pursuant to the Federal Hazardous Substances Act unless the Commission substantiates its decision to proceed under the Consumer Product Safety Act with the findings required by section 2079(d).