Safety Standard for Soft Infant and Toddler Carriers

<RULE> CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION <CFR>16 CFR Part 1226</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. CPSC-2013-0014]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Safety Standard for Soft Infant and Toddler Carriers</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Consumer Product Safety Commission. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Direct final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> In March 2014, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) published a safety standard for soft infant and toddler carriers under section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The standard incorporated by reference ASTM F2236-14, <E T="03">Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Soft Infant and Toddler Carriers,</E> the voluntary standard for soft infant and toddler carriers that was in effect at the time. ASTM has now issued a revised standard, ASTM F2236-24. Consistent with the CPSIA, this direct final rule updates the mandatory standard to incorporate by reference ASTM's 2024 version of the voluntary standard. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> The rule is effective on February 22, 2025, unless CPSC receives a significant adverse comment by December 20, 2024. If CPSC receives such a comment, it will publish a document in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> , withdrawing this direct final rule before its effective date. The incorporation by reference of the publication listed in this rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of February 22, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You can submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2013-0014, by any of the following methods: <E T="03">Electronic Submissions:</E> Submit electronic comments to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Follow the instructions for submitting comments. CPSC typically does not accept comments submitted by email, except as described below. CPSC encourages you to submit electronic comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal. <E T="03">Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier/Confidential Written Submissions:</E> Submit comments by mail, hand delivery, or courier to: Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone: (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: <E T="03">cpsc-os@cpsc.gov.</E> <E T="03">Instructions:</E> 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: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> 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. <E T="03">Docket:</E> For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov,</E> and insert the docket number, CPSC-2013-0014, into the “Search” box, and follow the prompts. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Will Cusey, Small Business Ombudsman, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone: (301) 504-7945 or (888) 531-9070; email: <E T="03">sbo@cpsc.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Statutory Authority</HD> Section 104(b)(1) of the CPSIA requires the Commission to assess the effectiveness of voluntary standards for durable infant or toddler products and adopt mandatory standards for these products. 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(1). The mandatory standard must be “substantially the same as” the voluntary standard, or “more stringent than” the voluntary standard if the Commission determines that more stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury associated with the product. <E T="03">Id.</E> Section 104(b)(4)(B) of the CPSIA specifies the process for updating the Commission's rules when a voluntary standards organization revises a standard that the Commission incorporated by reference under section 104(b)(1). First, the voluntary standards organization must notify the Commission of the revision. Once the Commission receives this notification, the Commission may reject or accept the revised standard. The Commission may reject the revised standard by notifying the voluntary standards organization, within 90 days of receiving notice of the revision, that it has determined that the revised standard does not improve the safety of the consumer product and that it is retaining the existing standard. If the Commission does not take this action to reject the revised standard, then the revised voluntary standard will be considered a consumer product safety standard issued under section 9 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA; 15 U.S.C. 2058), effective 180 days after the Commission received notification of the revision or on a later date specified by the Commission in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(4)(B). <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Safety Standard for Soft Infant and Toddler Carriers</HD> Under section 104(b)(1) of the CPSIA, the Commission published a mandatory standard for soft infant and toddler carriers, codified in 16 CFR part 1226, “Safety Standard for Soft Infant and Toddler Carriers.” The rule incorporated by reference the then-current voluntary standard, ASTM F2236-14, <E T="03">Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Soft Infant and Toddler Carriers,</E> without alteration. 79 FR 17422 (Mar. 28, 2014). ASTM F2236 applies to soft infant and toddler carriers, defined as “a product, normally of sewn fabric construction, which is designed to contain a full term infant to a toddler, generally in an upright position, in close proximity to the caregiver.” The mandatory standard includes performance requirements and test methods, as well as requirements for warning labels and instructions, to address hazards associated with soft infant and toddler carriers. After the Commission adopted the mandatory standard in 2014, ASTM approved two more revisions: ASTM F2236-16 and ASTM F2236-16a. However, ASTM did not notify CPSC of these revisions under CPSIA section 104(b)(4)(B). Consequently, the Commission did not update its mandatory standard to incorporate by reference either of these revised ASTM standards. In July 2024, ASTM approved another revision to the voluntary standard for soft infant and toddler carriers, ASTM F2236-24. On August 26, 2024, ASTM notified CPSC of the revision. On September 10, 2024, the Commission published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> a notice of availability of the revised voluntary standard and sought comments on the effect of the revisions. 89 FR 73320. CPSC received no comments on the notice of availability. As discussed below, based on staff's review of ASTM F2236-24, the Commission will allow the revised voluntary standard to become the mandatory standard for soft infant and toddler carriers because the revised requirements in the voluntary standard improve the safety of soft infant and toddler carriers overall; and none of the revised requirements reduce safety. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> Accordingly, by operation of law under section 104(b)(4)(B) of the CPSIA, ASTM F2236-24 will become the mandatory consumer product safety standard for soft infant and toddler carriers on February 22, 2025. 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(4)(B). This direct final rule updates part 1226 to incorporate by reference the revised voluntary standard, ASTM F2236-24. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  On November 13, 2024, the Commission voted (5-0) to approve this rule. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Revisions to ASTM F2236</HD> ASTM has revised the voluntary standard for soft infant and toddler carriers three times since its adoption of ASTM F2236-14, which is the current mandatory standard. This section describes the changes in these three versions of the standard—ASTM F2236-16, ASTM F2236-16a, and ASTM F2236-24. The newly revised 2024 version includes the revisions that ASTM made in the two 2016 versions of the standard. <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. ASTM F2236-16 and ASTM F2236-16a</HD> On May 1, 2016, ASTM approved a revised version of the standard, ASTM F2236-16. On September 1, 2016, ASTM approved another revised version of the standard, ASTM F2236-16a. ASTM F2236-16 and ASTM F2236-16a included several substantive and clarifying additions and revisions, as well as editorial revisions that did not alter substantive requirements in the standard or affect safety. <HD SOURCE="HD3">1. Substantive and Clarifying Revisions</HD> ASTM F2236-14 only provided a general definition for “fastener” in section 3.1.6. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> ASTM F2236-16 included additions and revisions to the definition of “fastener” to clarify which type of fastener, primary load bearing, secondary load bearing, or non-load bearing, is subject to each performance requirement. First, the Terminology section of ASTM F2236-16 added definitions for “primary load bearing fastener” (section 3.1.12) and “secondary load bearing fastener” (section 3.1.14). <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> ASTM F2236-16a slightly modified these definitions for clarity. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  ASTM F2236-14 and ASTM F2236-16 defined “fastener” as a “mechanical means of attachment that may also allow for adjustments of the pro ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 46k characters. 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