SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

Pursuant to section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 2056a), the Commission is required to promulgate consumer product safety standards for ( printed page 80160) durable infant or toddler products. Under this statutory direction, the Commission published an NPR, Safety Standard for Infant and Infant/Toddler Rockers, to establish a safety standard for rockers to reduce the risk of death and injury associated with these products. 88 FR 73551 (Oct. 26, 2023). The NPR proposes incorporating by reference the 2022 version of the rockers voluntary standard, ASTM F3084-22, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Infant and Infant/Toddler Rockers, with modifications to make the standard more stringent, to further reduce the risk of injury associated with rockers.

On August 22, 2024, the Commission published in the Federal Register an additional request for comment and a release of the underlying incident data, titled Safety Standard for Infant and Infant/Toddler Rockers; Supplemental Information; Notice of Availability and Request for Comment (NOA). The NOA sought comment on three items: (1) incorporation of the updated July 2024 version of the voluntary standard for rockers—ASTM F3084-24; (2) incident reports underlying the data discussed in the NPR; and (3) an STL file of the firmness test fixture proposed in the NPR for gauging the firmness of a rocker seat.

B. Request for Comment Period Extension

On September 6, 2024, Lisa Trofe, Executive Director of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), on behalf of JPMA's members and three companies that individually co-signed the request, submitted a request for a 90-day extension of the NOA comment period (JPMA request).^[1 2] The JPMA request asserts that the 30-day comment period is insufficient for stakeholders to provide meaningful feedback on the NOA and complete dataset because when first available on August 22, 2024, the STL file and underlying data was only viewable and not downloadable, and some documents did not become available for review until August 28.

C. Assessment of the JPMA Request

CPSC's practice is to make available the underlying incident data that it is legally authorized to publicize. Stakeholders are currently able to review all underlying incident data that supports the NPR and submit comments on that data; therefore, there is no need for stakeholders to download the underlying incident data. The Commission agrees, though, that stakeholders may benefit from additional time to review the complete underlying incident dataset because some of the data became reviewable on August 28, 2024, rather than August 22 as intended. Further, CPSC agrees with JPMA that the STL file is difficult to evaluate without downloading it, and that this file was not downloadable until September 9, 2024.

An additional 90 days, totaling 4 months (30 days plus 90 days), is unnecessary to assess the STL file and incident data, and provide feedback. However, CPSC is reopening the comment period for an extension of 45 days from the closing date of September 23, 2024. This reopening provides commenters not only additional time to review incident data, but also, in the assessment of CPSC's technical staff, ample time to manufacture, test, and comment on the firmness test fixture proposed in the NPR and described in the STL file.

D. Conclusion

The Commission has considered JPMA's request to reopen the comment period and staff's assessment of the request. The comment period closed on September 23, 2024. To provide additional time for stakeholders to comment on the NOA, the Commission is reopening the comment period for an additional 45-days until November 7, 2024.

89 FR 80159