[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5059 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5059

  To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to provide for fire safety 
           standards for cigarettes, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 27, 2002

Mr. Stearns (for himself, Mr. Towns, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Hall of Ohio, Mr. 
   Taylor of North Carolina, Mr. Condit, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Graham, Mr. 
  Watkins of Oklahoma, and Mr. Pitts) 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, and for other purposes.

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

SECTON 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 new section:

                         ``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 issue a rule to implement the consumer product safety standard 
prescribed by this subsection for cigarettes to reduce the risk of 
fire. In establishing the standard, the following requirements shall be 
met:
            ``(1) The testing and statistical methodology for 
        determining ignition propensity of cigarettes shall be the 
        methodology 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 specifications 
        described in this paragraph. Testing shall be conducted on 10 
        layers of filter paper, as described in the referenced test 
        method. At least 40 replicate individual 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) The ignition propensity performance criteria for each 
        brand style of cigarettes using such methodology shall be as 
        follows: A test failure shall consist of more than 25 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 
        performance 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 performance 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 Standard.--From and after the third anniversary 
of the effective date of the consumer product safety standard 
prescribed by subsection (a), the Consumer Product Safety Commission 
may by rule amend the testing methodology or the performance criteria 
of the consumer product safety standard prescribed by subsection (a) if 
the Commission determines that compliance with the amended standard is 
technically feasible for conventional cigarettes; will provide a higher 
degree of protection from fire ignited by cigarettes; and is 
reasonable, practicable and appropriate for each brand of cigarettes 
that the amended standard would apply to.
    ``(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, and shall submit information regarding whether each such 
measure does or does not increase the toxicity of the cigarettes. No 
cigarette shall be deemed to meet such standard if the Commission has 
determined that the measures taken by the manufacturer of such 
cigarette to meet the standard will increase the toxicity of such 
cigarettes.
    ``(d) Procedures.--The Commission shall promulgate standards under 
subsections (a) and (b) in accordance with section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, and with respect to subsection (b) 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 any 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 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) or (except as 
otherwise noted) (b):
            ``(1) Sections 7, 8, 9, 11 (except that section 11 shall 
        apply to the promulgation of a standard under subsection (b)), 
        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 implementing or enforcing 
compliance with this section and the standard promulgated under this 
section and with respect to sections 6, 17, 18, and 26(a) and (b) 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)).
            ``(2) The term `cigarette paper' has the meaning prescribed 
        by section 5702(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
    ``(j) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act, or the 
application of this Act to tobacco products, may 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 any consumer product safety standard promulgated for 
cigarettes, except that--
            ``(1) such date shall be at least 180 days and no more than 
        1 year 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; and
            ``(2) notwithstanding paragraph (1), no such standard shall 
        have an effective date prior to 30 months after the date of 
        enactment of this section.''.
                                 <all>