[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR1633.8]

[Page 746-747]
 
                     TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
 
             CHAPTER II--CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
 
PART 1633_STANDARD FOR THE FLAMMABILITY (OPEN FLAME) OF MATTRESS 
SETS--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart A_The Standard
 
Sec.  1633.8  Findings.

    (a) General. In order to issue a flammability standard under the 
FFA, the FFA requires the Commission to make certain findings and to 
include these in the regulation, 15 U.S.C. 1193(j)(2). These findings 
are discussed in this section.
    (b) Voluntary standards. No findings concerning compliance with and 
adequacy of a voluntary standard are necessary because no relevant 
voluntary standard addressing the risk of injury

[[Page 747]]

that is addressed by this regulation has been adopted and implemented.
    (c) Relationship of benefits to costs. The Commission estimates the 
potential total lifetime benefits of a mattress that complies with this 
standard to range from $45 to $57 per mattress set (based on a 10 year 
mattress life and a 3% discount rate). The Commission estimates total 
resource costs of the standard to range from $8 to $22 per mattress. 
This yields net benefits of $23 to $50 per mattress set. The Commission 
estimates that aggregate lifetime benefits associated with all 
mattresses produced the first year the standard becomes effective range 
from $1,024 to $1,307 million, and that aggregate resource costs 
associated with these mattresses range from $175 to $511 million, 
yielding net benefits of about $514 to $1,132 million. Accordingly, the 
Commission finds that the benefits from the regulation bear a reasonable 
relationship to its costs.
    (d) Least burdensome requirement. The Commission considered the 
following alternatives: alternative maximum peak heat release rate and 
test duration, alternative total heat released in the first 10 minutes 
of the test, mandatory production testing, a longer effective date, 
taking no action, relying on a voluntary standard, and requiring 
labeling alone (without any performance requirements). The alternatives 
of taking no action, relying on a voluntary standard (if one existed), 
and requiring labeling alone are unlikely to adequately reduce the risk. 
Requiring a criterion of 25 MJ total heat release during the first 10 
minutes of the test instead of 15 MJ would likely reduce the estimated 
benefits (deaths and injuries reduced) without having much effect on 
costs. Both options of increasing the duration of the test from 30 
minutes to 60 minutes and decreasing the peak rate of heat release from 
200 kW to 150 kW would likely increase costs significantly without 
substantial increase in benefits. Requiring production testing would 
also likely increase costs. Therefore, the Commission finds that an open 
flame standard for mattresses with the testing requirements and criteria 
that are specified in the Commission rule is the least burdensome 
requirement that would prevent or adequately reduce the risk of injury 
for which the regulation is being promulgated.