15 U.S.C. § 1193 : US Code - Section 1193: Flammability standards or regulations

Search 15 U.S.C. § 1193 : US Code - Section 1193: Flammability standards or regulations

(a) Proceedings by Commission for determination
Whenever the Consumer Product Safety Commission finds on the
basis of the investigations or research conducted pursuant to
section 1201 of this title that a new or amended flammability
standard or other regulation, including labeling, for a fabric,
related material, or product may be needed to protect the public
against unreasonable risk of the occurrence of fire leading to
death or personal injury, or significant property damage, it shall
institute proceedings for the determination of an appropriate
flammability standard (including conditions and manner of testing)
or other regulation or amendment thereto for such fabric, related
material, or product.
(b) Necessary findings; effective date; exemptions
Each standard, regulation, or amendment thereto promulgated
pursuant to this section shall be based on findings that such
standard, regulation, or amendment thereto is needed to adequately
protect the public against unreasonable risk of the occurrence of
fire leading to death, injury, or significant property damage, is
reasonable, technologically practicable, and appropriate, is
limited to such fabrics, related materials, or products which have
been determined to present such unreasonable risks, and shall be
stated in objective terms. Each such standard, regulation, or
amendment thereto, shall become effective twelve months from the
date on which such standard, regulation, or amendment is
promulgated, unless the Consumer Product Safety Commission finds
for good cause shown that an earlier or later effective date is in
the public interest and publishes the reason for such finding. Each
such standard or regulation or amendment thereto shall exempt
fabrics related materials, or products in inventory or with the
trade as of the date on which the standard, regulation, or
amendment thereto, becomes effective except that, if the Commission
finds that any such fabric, related material, or product is so
highly flammable as to be dangerous when used by consumers for the
purpose for which it is intended, it may under such conditions as
the Commission may prescribe, withdraw, or limit the exemption for
such fabric, related material, or product.
(c) Collection of information by Commission; confidential status of
trade secrets and related information; disclosure of confidential
information
The Consumer Product Safety Commission may obtain from any person
by regulation or subpena issued pursuant thereto such information
in the form of testimony, books, records, or other writings as is
pertinent to the findings or determinations which it is required or
authorized to make pursuant to this chapter. All information
reported to or otherwise obtained by the Commission or its
representative pursuant to this subsection which information
contains or relates to a trade secret or other matter referred to
in section 1905 title 18, shall be considered confidential for the
purpose of that section, except that such information may be
disclosed to other officers or employees concerned with carrying
out this chapter or when relevant in any proceeding under this
chapter. Nothing in this section shall authorize the withholding of
information by the Commission or any officer or employee under its
control, from the duly authorized committees of the Congress.
(d) Applicability of section 553 of title 5; oral presentation
Standards, regulations, and amendments to standards and
regulations under this section shall be made in accordance with
section 553 of title 5, except that interested persons shall be
given an opportunity for the oral presentation of data, views, or
arguments in addition to an opportunity to make written
submissions. A transcript shall be kept of any oral presentation.
(e) Judicial review; additional information before Commission;
applicability of sections 701 to 706 of title 5; finality of
judgment; survival of action
(1) Any person who will be adversely affected by any such
standard or regulation or amendment thereto when it is effective
may at any time prior to the sixtieth day after such standard or
regulation or amendment thereto is issued file a petition with the
United States court of appeals for the circuit wherein such person
resides or has his principal place of business, for a judicial
review thereof. A copy of the petition shall be forthwith
transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Commission or other
officer designated by it for that purpose. The Commission thereupon
shall file in the court the record of the proceedings on which the
Commission based the standard or regulation, as provided in section
2112 of title 28.
(2) If the petitioner applies to the court for leave to adduce
additional evidence, and shows to the satisfaction of the court
that such additional evidence is material and that there were
reasonable grounds for the failure to adduce such evidence in the
proceeding before the Commission, the court may order such
additional evidence (and evidence in rebuttal thereof) to be taken
before the Commission, and to be adduced upon the hearing, in such
manner and upon such terms and conditions as to the court may seem
proper. The Commission may modify its findings, or make new
findings, by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and it
shall file such modified or new findings, and its recommendations,
if any, for the modification or setting aside of its original
standard or regulation or amendment thereto, with the return of
such additional evidence.
(3) Upon the filing of the petition referred to in paragraph (1)
of this subsection, the court shall have jurisdiction to review the
standard or regulation in accordance with chapter 7 of title 5 and
to grant appropriate relief as provided in such chapter. The
standard or regulation shall not be affirmed unless the findings
required by the first sentence of subsection (b) of this section
are supported by substantial evidence on the record taken as a
whole. For purposes of this paragraph, the term "record" means the
standard or regulation, any notice published with respect to the
promulgation of such standard or regulation, the transcript
required by subsection (d) of this section of any oral
presentation, any written submission of interested parties, and any
other information which the Commission considers relevant to such
standard or regulation.
(4) The judgment of the court affirming or setting aside, in
whole or in part, any such standard or regulation of the Commission
shall be final, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the
United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in
section 1254 of title 28.
(5) Any action instituted under this subsection shall survive,
notwithstanding any change in the persons occupying the office of
Commissioner or any vacancy in such office.
(6) The remedies provided for in this subsection shall be in
addition to and not in substitution for any other remedies provided
by law.
(f) Transcript of proceedings
A certified copy of the transcript of the record and proceedings
under subsection (e) of this section shall be furnished by the
Commission to any interested party at its request, and payment of
the costs thereof, and shall be admissible in any criminal,
exclusion of imports, or other proceeding arising under or in
respect of this chapter, irrespective of whether proceedings with
respect to the standard or regulation or amendment thereto have
previously been initiated or become final under subsection (e) of
this section.
(g) Promulgation of regulation; commencement of proceeding;
publication of prescribed notice of proposed rulemaking
A proceeding for the promulgation of a regulation under this
section for a fabric, related material, or product shall be
commenced by the publication in the Federal Register of an advance
notice of proposed rulemaking which shall -
(1) identify the fabric, related material, or product and the
nature of the risk of injury associated with the fabric, related
material, or product;
(2) include a summary of each of the regulatory alternatives
under consideration by the Commission (including voluntary
standards);
(3) include information with respect to any existing standard
known to the Commission which may be relevant to the proceedings,
together with a summary of the reasons why the Commission
believes preliminarily that such standard does not eliminate or
adequately reduce the risk of injury identified in paragraph (1);
(4) invite interested persons to submit to the Commission,
within such period as the Commission shall specify in the notice
(which period shall not be less than 30 days or more than 60 days
after the date of publication of the notice), comments with
respect to the risk of injury identified by the Commission, the
regulatory alternatives being considered, and other possible
alternatives for addressing the risk;
(5) invite any person (other than the Commission) to submit to
the Commission, within such period as the Commission shall
specify in the notice (which period shall not be less than 30
days after the date of publication of the notice), an existing
standard or a portion of a standard as a proposed regulation.(!1)
(6) invite any person (other than the Commission) to submit to
the Commission, within such period as the Commission shall
specify in the notice (which period shall not be less than 30
days after the date of publication of the notice), a statement of
intention to modify or develop a voluntary standard to address
the risk of injury identified in paragraph (1) together with a
description of a plan to modify or develop the standard.
The Commission shall transmit such notice within 10 calendar days
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the
Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives.
(h) Voluntary standard; publication as proposed regulation;
prerequisites for reliance by Commission
(1) If the Commission determines that any standard submitted to
it in response to an invitation in a notice published under
subsection (g)(5) of this section if promulgated (in whole, in
part, or in combination with any other standard submitted to the
Commission or any part of such a standard) as a regulation, would
eliminate or adequately reduce the risk of injury identified in the
notice provided under subsection (g)(1) of this section, the
Commission may publish such standard, in whole, in part, or in such
combination and with nonmaterial modifications, as a proposed
regulation under this section.
(2) If the Commission determines that -
(A) compliance with any standard submitted to it in response to
an invitation in a notice published under subsection (g)(6) of
this section is likely to result in the elimination or adequate
reduction of the risk of injury identified in the notice, and
(B) it is likely that there will be substantial compliance with
such standard,
the Commission shall terminate any proceeding to promulgate a
regulation respecting such risk of injury and shall publish in the
Federal Register a notice which includes the determination of the
Commission and which notifies the public that the Commission will
rely on the voluntary standard to eliminate or reduce the risk of
injury, except that the Commission shall terminate any such
proceeding and rely on a voluntary standard only if such voluntary
standard is in existence. For purposes of this section, a voluntary
standard shall be considered to be in existence when it is finally
approved by the organization or other person which developed such
standard, irrespective of the effective date of the standard.
Before relying upon any voluntary standard, the Commission shall
afford interested persons (including manufacturers, consumers, and
consumer organizations) a reasonable opportunity to submit written
comments regarding such standard. The Commission shall consider
such comments in making any determination regarding reliance on the
involved voluntary standard under this subsection.
(3) The Commission shall devise procedures to monitor compliance
with any voluntary standards -
(A) upon which the Commission has relied under paragraph (2) of
this subsection;
(B) which were developed with the participation of the
Commission; or
(C) whose development the Commission has monitored.
(i) Publication of proposed rule by Commission; preliminary
regulatory analysis; contents; transmission of notice by
Commission to Committees
No regulation may be proposed by the Commission under this
section unless, not less than 60 days after publication of the
notice required in subsection (g) of this section, the Commission
publishes in the Federal Register the text of the proposed rule,
including any alternatives, which the Commission proposes to
promulgate, together with a preliminary regulatory analysis
containing -
(1) a preliminary description of the potential benefits and
potential costs of the proposed regulation, including any
benefits or costs that cannot be quantified in monetary terms,
and an identification of those likely to receive the benefits and
bear the costs;
(2) a discussion of the reasons any standard or portion of a
standard submitted to the Commission under subsection (g)(5) of
this section was not published by the Commission as the proposed
regulation or part of the proposed regulation;
(3) a discussion of the reasons for the Commission's
preliminary determination that efforts proposed under subsection
(g)(6) of this section and assisted by the Commission as required
by section 2054(a)(3) of this title would not, within a
reasonable period of time, be likely to result in the development
of a voluntary standard that would eliminate or adequately reduce
the risk of injury identified in the notice provided under
subsection (g)(1) of this section; and
(4) a description of any reasonable alternatives to the
proposed regulation, together with a summary description of their
potential costs and benefits, and a brief explanation of why such
alternatives should not be published as a proposed regulation.
The Commission shall transmit such notice within 10 calendar days
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the
Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives.
(j) Final regulatory analysis; contents; publication; judicial
review of regulation
(1) The Commission shall not promulgate a regulation under this
section unless it has prepared a final regulatory analysis of the
regulation containing the following information:
(A) A description of the potential benefits and potential costs
of the regulation, including costs and benefits that cannot be
quantified in monetary terms, and the identification of those
likely to receive the benefits and bear the costs.
(B) A description of any alternatives to the final regulation
which were considered by the Commission, together with a summary
description of their potential benefits and costs and a brief
explanation of the reasons why these alternatives were not
chosen.
(C) A summary of any significant issues raised by the comments
submitted during the public comment period in response to the
preliminary regulatory analysis, and a summary of the assessment
by the Commission of such issues.
The Commission shall publish its final regulatory analysis with the
regulation.
(2) The Commission shall not promulgate a regulation under this
section unless it finds (and includes such finding in the
regulation) -
(A) in the case of a regulation which relates to a risk of
injury with respect to which persons who would be subject to such
regulation have adopted and implemented a voluntary standard,
that -
(i) compliance with such voluntary standard is not likely to
result in the elimination or adequate reduction of such risk of
injury; or
(ii) it is unlikely that there will be substantial compliance
with such voluntary standard;
(B) that the benefits expected from the regulation bear a
reasonable relationship to its costs; and
(C) that the regulation imposes the least burdensome
requirement which prevents or adequately reduces the risk of
injury for which the regulation is being promulgated.
(3)(A) Any regulatory analysis prepared under subsection (i) of
this section or paragraph (1) shall not be subject to independent
judicial review, except that when an action for judicial review of
a regulation is instituted, the contents of any such regulatory
analysis shall constitute part of the whole rulemaking record of
agency action in connection with such review.
(B) The provisions of subparagraph (A) shall not be construed to
alter the substantive or procedural standards otherwise applicable
to judicial review of any action by the Commission.
(k) Petition to initiate rulemaking
The Commission shall grant, in whole or in part, or deny any
petition under section 553(e) of title 5 requesting the Commission
to initiate a rulemaking, within a reasonable time after the date
on which such petition is filed. The Commission shall state the
reasons for granting or denying such petition. The Commission may
not deny any such petition on the basis of a voluntary standard
unless the voluntary standard is in existence at the time of the
denial of the petition, the Commission has determined that the
voluntary standard is likely to result in the elimination or
adequate reduction of the risk of injury identified in the
petition, and it is likely that there will be substantial
compliance with the standard.