The Consumer Product Safety Commission has voted (4-0) to adopt a new federal standard on portable bed rails for children. A portable bed rail is used on the side of an adult bed to keep children, typically age 2 to 5 years old, from falling out of the bed. The mandatory standard incorporates the ASTM F2085-12 bed rail standard and addresses consumer assembly and installation problems that have resulted in child deaths. The new standard will go into effect six months after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for February 21-22, 2012:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for February 21-22, 2012:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has adopted, as mandatory, effective June 12, 2012, the new ASTM F963-11 toy standard. Changes made to the toy standard by the new version include revisions to the section on heavy metals (e.g., cadmium), the introduction of compositing procedures, and new safety requirements and technical guidance for bath toy projections, acoustics, and other potential safety hazards in toys. As the new standard does not reincorporate the standard for toy chests, that provision from F963-07 remains in effect.

The Office of Textiles and Apparel has issued monthly reports containing official December 2011 trade data from the Census Bureau for U.S. imports and exports of cotton, wool, man-made fiber (MMF), silk blends, and non-cotton vegetable fiber textile and apparel products.

On February 14, 2012, Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Robert Adler issued a statement on the agency's unanimous approval of a final rule that adopts the ANSI/SVIA 1-2010 standard for all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and amends the mandatory ATV standard so that it will match the voluntary standard adopted by the industry in December 2010. Substantive changes in the 2010 version include: (1) elimination from a provision calling for expiration of the definition and requirements for the Y--12+ youth ATV age category on July 28, 2011; (2) a change in how to calculate the speed for the braking test of youth ATVs; (3) the requirement that tire pressure information be on the label; etc. A draft version of its final rule is available here.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a final rule to amend its registration form requirements for durable infant or toddler products. Among other modifications, the CPSC final rule simplifies and clarifies the text of the regulations, adopts changes to the registration form to ensure that consumers register properly, and allows manufacturers to include brand names and third party processors in mailing addresses and contact information.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for February 16, 2012:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will vote on its final rule on bed rails at an open meeting on February 22, 2012. The final rule would establish a mandatory consumer product safety standard for toddler bed rails that adopts the voluntary ASTM F1821-09 standard, but with certain modifications to strengthen the standard. A live webcast of the meeting can be viewed here.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for February 8-9, 2012: