Safety Standard for Stationary Activity Centers

<RULE> CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION <CFR>16 CFR Part 1238</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. CPSC-2018-0015]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Safety Standard for Stationary Activity Centers</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 June 2019, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) published a consumer product safety standard for stationary activity centers pursuant to section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The Commission's mandatory standard incorporates by reference ASTM F2012-18 <E T="7333">ε</E> <SU>1</SU> , <E T="03">Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Stationary Activity Centers.</E> The CPSIA sets forth a process for updating mandatory standards for durable infant or toddler products that are based on a voluntary standard, when a voluntary standards organization revises the standard. In November 2024, ASTM published a revised voluntary standard. This direct final rule updates the mandatory standard for stationary activity centers to incorporate by reference the 2024 version of ASTM F2012, which the Commission has allowed to become the mandatory standard under section 104. The purpose of the direct final rule is to conform the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to the correct version of ASTM F2012 to provide an accurate reference to the standard that will be enforced as a mandatory rule. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> The rule is effective on July 5, 2025, unless the Commission receives a significant adverse comment by April 28, 2025. If the Commission receives such a comment, it will publish a notice 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 July 5, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You can submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2018-0015, 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. <E T="03">Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier/Confidential Written Submissions:</E> CPSC encourages you to submit electronic comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal. You may, however, 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 to 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-2018-0015, into the “Search” box, and follow the prompts. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Bradley Gordon, Project Manager, Division of Mechanical and Combustion Engineering, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 5 Research Place, Rockville, MD 20850; telephone: (301) 987-2099; email: <E T="03">bgordon@cpsc.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Statutory Authority and Background</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Statutory Authority</HD> Section 104(b) of the CPSIA requires the Commission to assess the effectiveness of voluntary standards for durable infant or toddler products  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> and adopt mandatory standards for these products. 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(1). Mandatory standards must be “substantially the same as” applicable voluntary standards, or they may be “more stringent” than the voluntary standards if the Commission determines that more stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury associated with the products. <E T="03">Id.</E> Accordingly, mandatory standards may be based, in whole or in part, on a voluntary standard. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  Section 104(f)(2)(G) of the CPSIA lists stationary activity centers as a durable infant or toddler product. 15 U.S.C. 2056a(f)(2)(G). </FTNT> Section 104(b)(4)(B) of the CPSIA specifies the process for when a voluntary standards organization revises a standard the Commission has incorporated by reference under section 104(b)(1). 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(4)(B). 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. To reject a revised standard, the Commission must notify the voluntary standards organization within 90 days of receiving the notice of revision that the Commission has determined that the revised standard does not improve the safety of the consumer product and that CPSC is retaining the existing standard. If the Commission does not take this action, 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 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 Stationary Activity Centers</HD> On June 18, 2019, under section 104 of the CPSIA, the Commission published the first stationary activity centers rule that incorporated by reference ASTM F2012-18 <E T="7333">ε</E> <SU>1</SU> , <E T="03"> Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Stationary Activity Centers, </E> as the mandatory standard. 84 FR 28205. The ASTM standard incorporated by CPSC defines a stationary activity center as “a freestanding product intended to remain stationary that enables a sitting or standing occupant whose torso is completely surrounded by the product to walk, rock, play, spin or bounce, or all of these, within a limited range of motion.” Section 3.1.12, ASTM F2012-18 <E T="7333">ε</E> <SU>1</SU> ; <E T="03">see</E> 16 CFR 1238.2. On January 6, 2025, ASTM notified the Commission that it had approved and published a newly revised version of the voluntary standard, ASTM F2012-24. The revision includes a change to update the requirements for assessing the permanency of warning labels attached to the product. The Commission determines that this change improves the safety of stationary activity centers, because it provides improved requirements for permanent attachment of labels and improved testing consistency of label permanency. The revision to the standard also adds example warning labels that manufacturers can use on stationary activity centers, and it also includes several editorial changes. The Commission determines that these changes are safety-neutral and do not reduce the safety of stationary activity centers because they do not change any requirements in the standard. On January 21, 2025, the Commission published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> a Notice of Availability, requesting comment on whether the 2024 revision improves the safety of stationary activity centers. 90 FR 6844. CPSC received one anonymous comment, discussed below, addressing the new example warning labels. Based on staff's evaluation of ASTM F2012-24 and consideration of the comment received, the Commission will allow ASTM F2012-24 to become the new consumer product safety standard for stationary activity centers because it improves safety. Pursuant to CPSIA section 104, the revised voluntary standard will take effect as the new mandatory standard for stationary activity centers on July 5, 2025. 15 U.S.C. 2056a(b)(4)(B). This direct final rule updates 16 CFR part 1238 to incorporate by reference the applicable provisions of the revised voluntary standard, ASTM F2012-24. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  On March 18, 2025, the Commission voted (4-1) to publish this direct final rule. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Description of ASTM F2012-24 Related to Stationary Activity Centers</HD> The ASTM standard for stationary activity centers includes performance requirements, test methods, and requirements for marking, labeling, and instructional literature, to address hazards to children associated with stationary activity centers. The 2024 revision to the voluntary standard, ASTM F2012, includes updated requirements for assessing the permanency of attaching warning labels, updated warning label examples, and editorial changes. <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Updated Requirements for Assessing Warning Label Permanency</HD> In section 7.5.3 of ASTM F2012-24, ASTM revised the requirement to assess the permanency of attaching a warning label by a seam. In ASTM F2012-18 <E T="7333">ε</ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 31k characters. 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