[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4981 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4981

  To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to provide for fire safety 
                       standards for cigarettes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 20, 2002

Mr. Stearns (for himself and Mr. Towns) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to provide for fire safety 
                       standards for cigarettes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. FIRE SAFETY STANDARD.

    The Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) is 
amended--
            (1) in section 3(a)(1)(B) (15 U.S.C. 2052(a)(1)(B)) by 
        inserting ``, except as provided in section 7A'' before the 
        semicolon; and
            (2) by adding after section 7 (15 U.S.C. 2056) the 
        following:

                         ``fire safety standard

    ``Sec. 7A. (a) Consumer Product Safety Rule.--Not later than 18 
months after the date of enactment of this section, the Commission 
shall by rule issue a consumer product safety standard for cigarettes 
to reduce the risk of fire. In establishing the standard, the 
Commission shall do the following:
            ``(1) Use the testing methodology for determining ignition 
        propensity of cigarettes referenced in `Relative Ignition 
        Propensity of Test Market Cigarettes--National Institute of 
        Standards and Technology--NIST Technical Note 1436, January, 
        2001--Appendix D: Cigarette Extinction Method', with the 
        modifications and specifications described in this subsection. 
        Testing shall be conducted on 3 layers of filter paper, as 
        described in the referenced test method. Forty replicate tests 
        shall be required to comprise a complete test trial for each 
        cigarette tested. Test results and the application of pass/fail 
        criteria shall be derived only for complete test trials 
        comprised of at least 40 replicate individual tests.
            ``(2) Establish the following ignition propensity 
        performance requirement for cigarettes using such methodology: 
        A test failure shall consist of more than 50 percent of the 
        cigarettes tested in a test trial failing to self-extinguish 
        prior to burning the full length of the tobacco column.
            ``(3) For cigarette designs that cannot be tested using the 
        specified method because of unique or nontraditional 
        characteristics, the Commission shall accept test methods and 
        acceptance criteria that are proposed by manufacturers when the 
        cigarette with unique or nontraditional characteristics is 
        found by the Commission, after review of the application of the 
        test method and acceptance criteria, to have an equivalent or 
        lesser ignition propensity. In establishing the standard for 
        cigarettes, the Commission shall have the authority to regulate 
        the ignition propensity of cigarette paper for roll-your-own 
        tobacco products.
    ``(b) Revision of Rule.--If the sponsor of the referenced test 
method revises it in any material respect, the sponsor shall notify the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission of the revision and the revision may 
be incorporated in the consumer product safety rule under subsection 
(a) if the Commission determines that such revision is in the public 
interest. The Commission is also authorized to revise the rule, 
including the performance requirements specified in subsection (a)(2), 
in whole or in part, without regard to the referenced test method, if 
it finds that compliance with such revision is technically feasible and 
provides a higher degree of protection from fire ignited by cigarettes.
    ``(c) Manufacturers.--Manufacturers of cigarettes shall identify 
for the Commission any measures the manufacturers will take to meet the 
consumer product safety standard for cigarettes promulgated by the 
Commission. Based on information that shall be submitted by the 
manufacturers of cigarettes and other appropriate information available 
to the Commission, the Commission shall determine whether each such 
measure does or does not increase the toxicity of cigarettes. No 
cigarette shall be deemed to meet such standard unless the Commission 
has determined that the measures taken by the manufacturer of such 
cigarette to meet the standard do not increase the toxicity of the 
cigarette.
    ``(d) Procedures.--The Commission shall promulgate the standard 
under subsections (a) and (b) in accordance with section 553 of title 
5, United States Code, and shall--
            ``(1) consult with the National Institute of Standards and 
        Technology, the American Society of Testing and Materials, and 
        the National Fire Protection Association, and seek the advice 
        and expertise of other Federal and State agencies; and
            ``(2) take into account all findings in the final report to 
        the Congress made by the Commission, in consultation with the 
        Technical Advisory Group established under section 3 of the 
        Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 1990 (15 U.S.C. 2054 note), in which 
        it was found that cigarettes with a low ignition propensity are 
        already on the market.
    ``(e) Stockpiling.--The Commission shall include in the standard a 
prohibition of stockpiling of cigarettes to which such standard will 
apply. For purposes of this subsection, the term `stockpiling' means 
the manufacturing or importing of a cigarette which would not comply 
with such standard between the date such standard is promulgated under 
subsection (a) and the date the standard is to take effect at a rate 
greater than the rate that cigarettes were manufactured or imported for 
the 1-year period ending on the date such standard was promulgated.
    ``(f) Inapplicable.--The following shall not apply to the 
promulgation of a standard under subsections (a) and (b):
            ``(1) Sections 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 of this Act.
            ``(2) Chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code.
            ``(3) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
        U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
            ``(4) The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
        Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-121) and the amendments made by 
        such Act.
    ``(g) Consumer Product.--The standard promulgated under this 
section shall be a consumer product safety standard promulgated under 
this Act. A cigarette shall be deemed a `consumer product' under 
section 3(a)(1)(B) only for the purpose of enforcing compliance with 
this section and the standard promulgated under this section and with 
respect to section 26 of this Act.
    ``(h) Limit on Jurisdiction.--Except as expressly provided in this 
section and in section 3(a)(1)(B), the Commission shall have no 
jurisdiction over tobacco or tobacco products.
    ``(i) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) the term `cigarette' has the meaning prescribed by 
        section 3(1) of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising 
        Act (15 U.S.C. 1332(1)); and
            ``(2) the term `cigarette paper' has the meaning prescribed 
        by section 5702(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
    ``(j) Modification of Law.--Nothing in this Act nor the application 
of this Act to tobacco products shall be construed to modify any 
provision of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (15 
U.S.C. 1331 et seq.).
    ``(k) Effective Date.--The Commission shall prescribe the effective 
date of the consumer product safety standard promulgated for cigarettes 
except that such date shall be at least 180 days and no more than 12 
months after the date of the promulgation of the standard unless the 
Commission, for good cause shown, determines that an earlier effective 
date is in the public interest.''.
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