[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 157 (Monday, August 16, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50363-50364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-18671]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION


Public Meeting Concerning Petition Requesting that ASTM F400-00, 
Safety Standard for Lighters, Be Adopted as a Consumer Product Safety 
Standard

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC'' or 
``Commission'') will conduct a public meeting on September 14, 2004 to 
receive comments concerning Petition CP 02-1, which requested that the 
Commission adopt a voluntary standard for cigarette lighters, ASTM F-
400, as a mandatory standard under the Consumer Product Safety Act 
(``CPSA''). The CPSC staff's briefing package recommends that the 
Commission deny the petition. The Commission invites oral presentations 
from members of the public with information or comments related to the 
petition or the staff's briefing package. The Commission will consider 
these presentations as it decides what action to take on the petition.

DATES: The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on September 14, 2004. 
Requests to make oral presentations, and 10 copies of the text of the 
presentation, must be received by the CPSC Office of the Secretary no 
later than September 7, 2004. Persons making presentations at the 
meeting should provide an additional 25 copies for dissemination on the 
date of the meeting.
    The Commission reserves the right to limit the number of persons 
who make presentations and the duration of their presentations. To 
prevent duplicative presentations, groups will be directed to designate 
a spokesperson.
    Written submissions, in addition to, or instead of, an oral 
presentation may be sent to the address listed below and will be 
accepted until October 14, 2004.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be in room 420 of the Bethesda Towers 
Building, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD. Requests to make oral 
presentations, and texts of oral presentations should be captioned 
``Lighter Petition Briefing'' and be mailed to the Office of the 
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207, or 
delivered to that office, Room 502, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, 
MD 20814. Requests and texts of oral presentations may also be 
submitted by facsimile to (301) 504-0127 or by E-mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about the purpose or 
subject matter of this meeting contact Rohit Khanna, Directorate for 
Engineering Sciences, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
Washington, DC 20207; telephone (301) 504-7546; E-mail: 
[email protected]. For information about the schedule for submission of 
requests to make oral presentations and submission of texts of oral 
presentations, contact Rockelle Hammond, Office of the Secretary, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, DC 20207; telephone 
(301) 504-6833; fax (301) 504-0127; E-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    The Commission received a petition, Petition CP 02-1, from the 
Lighter Association, Inc., a trade association representing the major 
U.S. manufacturers and distributors of cigarette lighters. The petition 
requested that the Commission issue a rule to make the voluntary 
standard ``Standard Consumer Product Safety Specification for 
Lighters'' (ASTM F-400) a mandatory consumer product safety standard. 
The petitioner asserted that unreasonable risks of injury are being 
created by failure to enforce the existing voluntary standard in the 
U.S. The petitioner stated that although most disposable lighters 
imported to the U.S. are child-resistant, they do not meet minimum 
safety standards followed by the U.S. lighter industry in accordance 
with the ASTM F-400 standard.
    The Commission published a notice in the Federal Register on 
January 17, 2002, requesting comments on the petition. 67 FR 2420. The 
Commission received a total of 16 comments on the petition.
    The staff reviewed the petition, comments and other relevant 
available information. The staff then forwarded a briefing package to 
the Commission, which is available on the Commission's website 
www.cpsc.gov or from the Commission's Office of the Secretary. The 
staff recommends that the Commission deny the petition. The staff 
concludes that injuries resulting from malfunctioning lighters are 
relatively infrequent. For the approximately 900 million lighters 
purchased by consumers in a year, the estimated risk

[[Page 50364]]

of death from lighter malfunction is about 2.2 deaths per billion 
lighters. The estimated risk of injury is about 1.1 injuries per 
million lighters. Moreover, the incident data do not provide sufficient 
information to determine whether the lighters involved in these 
incidents conform to ASTM F-400. Thus, it is unclear whether mandating 
the voluntary standard would actually reduce incidents.

B. The Public Meeting

    The purpose of the public meeting is to provide a forum for oral 
presentations on the cigarette lighter petition and the CPSC staff's 
briefing package.
    Participation in the meeting is open. See the DATES section of this 
notice for information on making requests to give oral presentations at 
the meeting and on making written submissions.

    Dated: August 11, 2004.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 04-18671 Filed 8-13-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P