[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 7, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 20503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11121]



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 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 89 / Tuesday, May 7, 1996 / Proposed 
Rules  

[[Page 20503]]



CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

16 CFR Part 1210


Petition CP 96-1 Requesting a Child-Resistance Standard for 
Multi-Purpose Lighters

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Petition for rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: Judy L. Carr has petitioned the Commission to begin a 
rulemaking proceeding to amend the Safety Standard for Cigarette 
Lighters, 16 CFR part 1210, so it would apply to a ``multi-purpose'' 
lighter. The Commission solicits written comments concerning the 
petition from all interested parties.

DATES: Comments on the petition should be received in the Office of the 
Secretary by July 8, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the petition should be mailed to the Office of 
the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 
20207, telephone (301) 504-0800, or delivered to the Office of the 
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, room 502, 4330 East-West 
Highway, Bethesda Maryland 20814. Comments should be captioned 
``Petition CP 96-1 for Child-Resistant Multi-Purpose Lighters.'' Copies 
of the petition are available by writing or calling the Office of the 
Secretary.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rockelle S. Hammond, Docket Control 
Specialist, Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, Washington, DC 20207; telephone: (301) 504-0800 ext. 1232.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission has docketed correspondence 
from Judy L. Carr as a petition for rulemaking under the Consumer 
Product Safety Act (``CPSA''). Ms. Carr asks that the Commission begin 
a rulemaking proceeding to amend the Safety Standard for Cigarette 
Lighters, 16 C.F.R. Sec. 1210, so that the standard would apply to a 
particular ``multi-purpose'' lighter.
    This type of product is commonly purchased for lighting charcoal or 
gas grills and fireplaces. The particular product referred to by the 
petitioner is a butane-fueled lighter with a handle, a trigger for 
actuating the lighting mechanism and fuel flow, and a long nose from 
which the flame extends. The device has a ``safety'' that can be 
manually moved to the ``off'' position to block actuation of the 
trigger. If the Commission grants the petition, the rulemaking would 
develop a generic description of the product to be regulated, in order 
to cover similar products made by others. For the purposes of this 
notice, the product category will be referred to as ``multi-purpose 
lighters.''
    The cigarette lighter safety standard requires that lighters 
subject to the standard have child-resistant features to prevent 
operation by most children under age 5. The child-resistant mechanism 
must reset itself automatically after each operation of the lighter's 
ignition mechanism. 16 CFR 1210.3(b)(1). However, multi-purpose 
lighters are currently excluded from the cigarette lighter regulation. 
See 16 CFR 1210.2(c).
    The petition sets forth facts in the form of petitioner's personal 
knowledge of an incident involving her children. Petitioner asserts 
that her children started a fire while playing with the lighter, 
resulting in burns to a 4-year-old girl on over 60% of her body. The 
petition also contains information concerning other incidents where 
young children started fires using a multi-purpose lighter. That 
information was obtained by the petitioner through discovery in 
litigation with the product's manufacturer.
    The Commission solicits comments on the issues raised by the 
petition. The Commission is particularly interested in comments on the 
following topics:
    1. The types and numbers of multi-purpose lighters currently sold 
to consumers;
    2. The manufacturers and distributors of the product;
    3. The number of persons injured or killed in fires started by 
children under the age of 5 years using multi-purpose lighters;
    4. The circumstances under which these injuries and deaths occur, 
including the ages of the children who started the fires, the ages of 
the victims, the locations from which the children obtained the 
lighters, and physical descriptions of the products involved (including 
identification of the manufacturers and models, if available);
    5. Ways in which the products could be modified to be child 
resistant;
    6. Characteristics of the product that could or should not be used 
to define which products might be subject to the requested rule;
    7. Other information on the potential costs and benefits of the 
requested rule; and
    8. Steps that have been taken by industry or others to reduce the 
risk of injuries from the product.
    Comments on the petition should be received in the Commission's 
Office of the Secretary by July 8, 1996. Comments should be captioned 
``Petition CP 96-1 for Child-Resistant Multi-Purpose Lighters.''
    Interested parties may obtain a copy of the petition by writing or 
calling the Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, Washington, DC 20207; telephone (301) 504-0800. A copy of 
the petition is available for inspection from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, in the Commission's Public Reading Room, room 
502, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda Maryland 20814.
    Dated: April 29, 1996.
Sayde E. Dunn,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 96-11121 Filed 5-6-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P