CPSC Spells Out Petitions Policy

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today issued guidance to the public for filing petitions under the Consumer Product Safety Act.

Under Section 10 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, any interested party may petition the Commission to issue, amend, or revoke a consumer product safety rule.

The policy, to be published in the Federal Register, will set out detailed requirements for petitioning CPSC. This should make the petition process clearer and easier for the public to use.

A petition must be written in the English language, include the name and address of the petitioner, and indicate the consumer product or products for which a safety rule or a rule change is sought.

A petition must include the facts that establish the rule or rule change sought is necessary. This may include personal experience, medical, engineering, or injury data or research.

A petitioner must further ask the Commission to initiate rulemaking and describe the substance of the proposed rule. A sweeping request for regulatory action will not be sufficient.

The petition policy recommends that the petitioner submit as much information related to the petition as possible. Petitioners are urged to describe the specific risk of injury that the petition is intended to reduce. The petitioner is requested to include information about the severity of the likely injuries, the possible reasons for them, such as product defect, a design flaw, or unintentional or intentional misuse.

If the petitioner seeks a product ban, the petitioner should state why a safety standard would not be sufficient. The petitioner should supply other documentation relating to the petition, including economic and environmental impact, engineering or technical studies, legal analyses, and reports of injuries.

CPSC said it prefers, but will not require, the petition be typewritten and include the word "petition" in a heading before the text, a specific reference that the petition is filed under Section 10 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, and the telephone number of the petitioner. The Commission also requested at least five copies of the petition.

CPSC receives thousands of communications each year. It emphasizes that communications that are not considered to be petitions are evaluated even though they are not processed in the same manner as petitions. For example, complaint letters or injury reports may lead to a product recall or repair order.

The petitioning guidance policy is to be published in the Federal Register as an interim rule subject to public comment. The comments will be considered when the Commission decides upon final rules for Section 10 petitions.