[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 217 (Friday, November 8, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 88684-88685]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25876]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
16 CFR Part 1250
[CPSC Docket No. CPSC-2024-0027]
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Safety Standard for Toys:
Requirements for Water Beads; Extension of Comment Period
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[[Page 88685]]
ACTION: Extension of comment period.
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SUMMARY: On September 9, 2024, the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPR) to address the risk of death and injury associated
with children ingesting or inserting in the nose or ear water bead toys
by adding performance and labeling requirements for water bead toys or
toys containing water beads. The Commission also made public incident
data relied upon and referenced in the NPR. The NPR invited the public
to submit written comments by November 8, 2024. On October 21, 2024,
CPSC received a request to extend the comment period to provide
stakeholders with time to review additional testing data. The
Commission is extending the comment period for the NPR by 30 days.
DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published on September
9, 2024, at 89 FR 73024, is extended. Submit comments by December 8,
2024.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2024-0027, by
any of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments. CPSC typically does not accept
comments submitted by email, except through www.regulations.gov. CPSC
encourages you to submit electronic comments by using the Federal
eRulemaking Portal, as described above.
Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier/Confidential Written Submissions: Submit
comments by mail, hand delivery, or courier to: Office of the
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway,
Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7479. If you wish to submit confidential
business information, trade secret information, or other sensitive or
protected information that you do not want to be available to the
public, you may submit such comments by mail, hand delivery, or
courier, or you may email them to: [email protected].
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number. CPSC may post all comments without change, including any
personal identifiers, contact information, or other personal
information provided, to https://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit
through this website: Confidential business information, trade secret
information, or other sensitive or protected information that you do
not want to be available to the public. If you wish to submit such
information, please submit it according to the instructions for mail/
hand delivery/courier/confidential written submissions.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to: https://www.regulations.gov, and insert the
docket number, CPSC-2024-0027, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the
prompts.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Kresse, Division of Mechanical
Engineering, Directorate for Laboratory Sciences, Consumer Product
Safety Commission, 5 Research Place, Rockville, MD 20850; Telephone
301-987-2222; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
Pursuant to section 106 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement
Act of 2008 (CPSIA; 15 U.S.C. 2056b(a)), the Commission is required to
promulgate toy safety standards that are more stringent than the
applicable voluntary standard--ASTM F963, Standard Consumer Safety
Specification for Toy Safety--if the Commission determines that more
stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury
associated with the product, as well as to periodically review and
revise the rules set forth under section 106 to ensure that such rules
provide the highest level of safety for such products that is feasible.
15 U.S.C. 2056b(c) and (d).
Accordingly, on September 9, 2024, the Commission published an NPR
in the Federal Register proposing to establish a safety standard for
water bead toys and toys that contain water beads by adding
requirements in part 1250. 89 FR 73024. In the September 9 notice, the
Commission provided a 60-day comment period closing on November 8,
2024.
B. Request for Comment Period Extension
On April 11, 2024, The Toy Association submitted a Freedom of
Information Act (FIOA) request seeking acrylamide testing data related
to water beads. CPSC's FOIA office anticipated that the acrylamide
testing data could be made public as part of the water bead rulemaking
process in a Notice of Availability (NOA) and informed The Toy
Association that it should wait until the Commission began its
rulemaking. On September 9, 2024, CPSC published the NPR (not an NOA),
which did not cite the requested data. The FOIA office then amended its
response to The Toy Association's FOIA request and published the
testing data on CPSC's website, alerting The Toy Association on October
7, 2024.
On October 21, 2024, Joan Lawrence, Senior Vice President,
Standards and Regulatory Affairs of The Toy Association, submitted a
request for a 60-day extension of the NPR comment period.1 2
The Toy Association's request asserts that the provided 60-day comment
period is insufficient for stakeholders to provide meaningful feedback
on the NPR and that stakeholders need time to review the acrylamide
testing data on CPSC's website.
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\1\ The Toy Association's request has been placed on the docket
for this rulemaking.
\2\ On November 1, 2024, the Commission voted (4-1) to publish
this notice.
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C. Assessment of the JPMA Request
Section III.D of the NPR states that CPSC would make available for
review and comment the incident data relied upon and discussed in the
NPR, which CPSC did when the NPR was published in the Federal Register.
Nevertheless, CPSC's FOIA office stated that the acrylamide testing
data would be released at the same time as the NPR data, when it was
not shared with The Toy Association until October 7, 2024. A 30-day
extension of the comment period will be granted to address this unusual
circumstance.
D. Conclusion
The Commission has considered The Toy Association request to extend
the comment period and staff's assessment of the request, and is
granting a 30-day extension of the comment period, until December 8,
2024. The acrylamide testing data is currently available on CPSC's FOIA
website at: https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/FOIA/ReportList/all/all?month=all&year=all&nfr_type=All&title=24-f-00409, and is available
with the incident data referenced in the NPR upon submitting a request
to: https://forms.office.com/g/gSZi1gHic8.
Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2024-25876 Filed 11-7-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P