Proposed Rule2022-10293
Petitions Requesting Rulemaking To Amend the Safety Standard for Play Yards To Require a Minimum Thickness for Play Yard Mattresses, and To Standardize the Size of Play Yards and Play Yard Mattresses; Request for Comments
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 19, 2022
Issuing agencies
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Abstract
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) received two petitions regarding play yards and play yard mattresses. The Commission invites written comments concerning these petitions.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 97 (Thursday, May 19, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 97 (Thursday, May 19, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30436-30437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10293]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
16 CFR Chapter II
[Docket No. CPSC-2022-0015]
Petitions Requesting Rulemaking To Amend the Safety Standard for
Play Yards To Require a Minimum Thickness for Play Yard Mattresses, and
To Standardize the Size of Play Yards and Play Yard Mattresses; Request
for Comments
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Notice of petitions for rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or
CPSC) received two petitions regarding play yards and play yard
mattresses. The Commission invites written comments concerning these
petitions.
DATES: Submit comments by July 18, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2022-0015, by
any of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments. CPSC typically does not accept
comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. CPSC encourages you to submit electronic comments
by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as described above.
Mail/hand delivery/courier Written Submissions: Submit comments by
mail/hand delivery/courier to: Division of the Secretariat, Consumer
Product Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814;
telephone: (301) 504-7479. Alternatively, as a temporary option during
the COVID-19 pandemic, you can email such submissions to: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#53302320307e3c2013302320307d343c25"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7c1f0c0f1f51130f3c1f0c0f1f521b130a">[email protected]</span></a>.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket
[[Page 30437]]
number for this notice. CPSC may post all comments without change,
including any personal identifiers, contact information, or other
personal information provided, to: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Do not
submit electronically: Confidential business information, trade secret
information, or other sensitive or protected information that you do
not want to be available to the public. If you wish to submit such
information, please submit it according to the instructions for mail/
hand delivery/courier written submissions.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, and insert the
docket number, CPSC-2022-0015, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the
prompts.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alberta E. Mills, Division of the
Secretariat, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East-West
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone: 301-504-7479 (office) and 240-
863-8938 (work cell); <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4a293a39296725390a293a3929642d253c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a9cad9daca84c6dae9cad9daca87cec6df">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 29, 2021, Carol Pollack-Nelson,
Ph.D. of Independent Safety Consulting, LLC, Sarah B. Newens, M.S. of
Safety and Systems Solutions, M.S., and Alan H. Schoem, Esq.
(collectively ``Petitioners'') submitted two documents to the
Commission through the Division of the Secretariat, titled: (1)
Petition to Require Minimum Thickness for Play Yard Mattresses
(``Mattress Thickness Petition''), and (2) Petition to Standardize the
Size of Play Yards and Play Yard Mattresses (``Play Yard Size
Petition'') (collectively ``petitions'').\1\ The petitions seek a
rulemaking to amend the Commission's regulation, Safety Standard for
Play Yards, 16 CFR part 1221, to address the hazard of infants becoming
entrapped between the edge of a play yard and the play yard mattress
and suffocating (``gap entrapment hazard''). CSPC docketed the Mattress
Thickness Petition as petition CP 22-1 and docketed the Play Yard Size
Petition as CP 22-2.
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\1\ On May 3, 2022, the Commission voted 3-1 to publish this
Notice of Petitions for Rulemaking in the Federal Register.
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The Mattress Thickness Petition states that to reduce consumer
perception that a play yard floor is too hard, and the notion that soft
bedding should be added for the comfort of an infant, the Commission
should require a minimum play yard mattress thickness of 1.5 inches
with a minimal tolerance allowed. Additionally, Petitioners seek a
maximum 0.5-inch gap requirement between a play yard mattress and the
mesh side of the play yard wall, and to allow a maximum play yard
mattress thickness of 3 inches.
The Play Yard Size Petition seeks to ``mitigate the risk posed by
an undersized mattress in a play yard'' by standardizing the size of
play yards and play yard mattresses ``to one size for each given
perimeter shape,'' meaning ``one size for square play yards, one size
for rectangular play yards, one size for oval play yards and one size
for round play yards.'' Petitioners assert that this change also would
reduce hazardous gaps between play yard mattresses and play yard walls.
By this notice, the Commission seeks comments concerning the two
petitions. In particular, the Commission seeks comments on the
following:
<bullet> The Commission considered the gap-entrapment hazard in
granting petition CP 15-2, Petition Requesting Rulemaking on
Supplemental Mattresses for Play Yards with Non-Rigid Sides, in
establishing a Safety Standard for Crib Mattresses, and in continuing
to work on play yard mattress requirements with the ASTM F15.18
Subcommittee on Play Yards and Non-Full-Size Cribs. What effect would
these new petitions have on the Commission's work on this issue?
<bullet> Are any of the issues raised in the Mattress Thickness
Petition supported, mooted, or rendered superfluous by the continuing
work on the gap-entrapment hazard in the ASTM F15.18 Subcommittee on
Play Yards and Non-Full-Size Cribs?
<bullet> The Commission, by statute, will consider any revised ASTM
voluntary standard for play yards if ASTM notifies the Commission of a
revised standard. 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(4). Based on the new petitions,
should the Commission commit additional resources to the gap-entrapment
issue, beyond staff's current work on mattress fit and thickness with
the ASTM F15.18 Subcommittee on Play Yards and Non-Full-Size Cribs? Why
or why not?
<bullet> The Commission's rules are typically stated in terms of
performance requirements, and/or requirements for labeling and
instructions. See, e.g., 15 U.S.C. 2056(a). Is the proposal in the Play
Yard Size Petition to limit the sizes of play yards and play yard
mattresses consistent with this practice? If not, is the departure
justified?
<bullet> Can the safety objective identified in the Play Yard Size
Petition, i.e., assisting consumers to purchase play yard mattresses
that properly fit into a play yard, be addressed by a performance
requirement different from that proposed in the Play Yard Size
Petition? If so, are there reasons to favor or disfavor the requirement
proposed in the Play Yard Size Petition? Does the existing requirement
for play yard mattresses in the Safety Standard for Play Yards
adequately address this hazard?
The petitions are available at: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, under
Docket No. CPSC-2022-0015, Supporting and Related Materials.
Alternatively, interested parties may obtain a copy of the petitions by
writing or calling the Division of the Secretariat, Consumer Product
Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814;
telephone: 301-504-7479 or 240-863-8938; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#86e5f6f5e5abe9f5c6e5f6f5e5a8e1e9f0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5c3f2c2f3f71332f1c3f2c2f3f723b332a">[email protected]</span></a>.
Brenda Rouse,
Acting Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2022-10293 Filed 5-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P
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