[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 28 (Monday, February 11, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3134-3135]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01817]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

16 CFR Chapter II

[Docket No. CPSC-2019-0001]


Possible Improvements to SaferProducts.gov; Request for 
Information and Notice of Public Hearing

AGENCY: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Request for written comments and notice of public hearing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold a 
public hearing to receive information from interested parties about 
possible changes to CPSC's Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety 
Information Database, www.SaferProducts.gov, to improve the website's 
usefulness and ease of use. CPSC also requests written comments.

DATES: The public hearing will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time 
(EST) on March 6, 2019. The Division of the Secretariat must receive 
requests to make oral presentations, along with the written text of 
oral presentations, no later than 5 p.m., on February 20, 2019. CPSC 
will accept written comments through April 3, 2019.

ADDRESSES: The public hearing will be in the Hearing Room, on the 4th 
Floor of the Bethesda Towers Building, 4330 East-West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814. You may submit a request to make an oral 
presentation, along with the written text of the oral presentation, to 
the Division of the Secretariat, with the caption, ``Improvements to 
SaferProducts.gov,'' by email to [email protected], or by mail to the 
Division of the Secretariat, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814.
    You may submit written comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-
2019-0001, using the methods described below. CPSC encourages you to 
submit comments electronically, rather than in hard copy.
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at: www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments provided on the website. CPSC does not accept 
written comments submitted by email.
    Written Submissions: Submit written comments by mail, hand 
delivery, or courier to: Division of the Secretariat, U.S. Consumer 
Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, 
MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number for this notice. CPSC may post all comments, without 
change, including any personal identifiers, contact information, or 
other personal information provided, to: http://www.regulations.gov. Do 
not submit confidential business information, trade secret information, 
or other sensitive or protected information that you do not want to be 
available to the public. If furnished at all, such information should 
be submitted by mail, hand delivery, or courier.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments, go to: www.regulations.gov, and insert the docket number, 
CPSC-2019-0001, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ian Elkin, Project Manager, 
Directorate for Epidemiology, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
4330 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone: (301) 504-7078; 
email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA; Pub. L. 
110-314, 122 Stat. 3016) requires the Commission to establish and 
maintain a database on the safety of consumer products, and other 
products or substances the Commission regulates, that is publicly 
available, searchable, and accessible through CPSC's website. 15 U.S.C. 
2055a(a)(1). The CPSIA includes specific content, procedural, and 
search requirements for the database. Id. 2055a(b), (c). In 2010, the 
Commission issued regulations regarding the database in 16 CFR part 
1102, and in 2011, Congress added additional requirements to the 
database provisions. 75 FR 76832 (Dec. 9, 2010) (adopting 16 CFR part 
1102); Sec. 7, Public Law 112-28, 125 Stat. 273 (amending 15 U.S.C. 
2055a(c)).
    To comply with these requirements, CPSC created the website 
www.SaferProducts.gov. The website allows consumers and others to 
submit reports of harm relating to the use of consumer products, and 
other products or substances the Commission regulates; allows 
businesses to comment on such reports; and allows users to search the 
database for product recalls and reports of harm that are published on 
www.SaferProducts.gov.

II. Request for Information

    CPSC is considering improvements to www.SaferProducts.gov to make 
the website easier to understand, navigate, and interact with, as well 
as more useful for submitting and obtaining desired information. CPSC 
seeks stakeholders' recommendations and intends to use the information 
it receives to determine how to update and upgrade the website. CPSC is 
particularly interested in information about how the website could be 
more user-friendly, and possible modifications to make the searching, 
reporting, and commenting tools more useful. CPSC requests comments and 
suggestions to improve the usability of the website. In particular, 
CPSC seeks comments on the following topics:
    1. How can the overall design of SaferProducts.gov be improved?
    2. Have you attempted to visit SaferProducts.gov using a mobile 
device? What suggestions would you have to make that experience better?
    3. Please describe any problems you encountered when using 
SaferProducts.gov. Please be as specific as possible.
    4. How can the process of reporting on SaferProducts.gov be 
improved?
    5. How can the instructions for submitting a report be improved?
    6. Business users: How can the processes of registering, accessing, 
and responding to reports of products or other substances the 
Commission regulates on SaferProducts.gov be improved?
    7. How can searching for recalls and reports on the website be 
improved?
    8. What other information would be useful to publish or provide 
with the recall and incident report data?
    9. Have you encountered any difficulty attempting to upload photos 
or videos with a report you may have submitted? Please describe what 
happened.
    10. If CPSC were to create a data visualization tool (a tool to 
help people understand data by placing it in a visual context) to help 
consumers and businesses better understand the data captured through 
SaferProducts.gov, would that kind of tool be useful to you?
    11. Currently, submitters of information to the website must check 
a box to consent to CPSC publishing

[[Page 3135]]

their report on the website. CPSC is exploring whether this extra step 
in the submission process may decrease the number of published reports. 
CPSC is considering whether to move to a pre-checked box where 
permission to publish is granted by the submitter automatically unless 
the submitter explicitly opts out by checking a box. CPSC staff 
believes this could increase the number of published reports and 
increase awareness of potentially unsafe products. The reports that 
CPSC publishes on Saferproducts.gov are prohibited by law from 
including personal information, such as name, address, and contact 
information. Do you have suggestions or concerns about making this 
change?
    12. Given the growth of online retail sales since the launch of 
SaferProducts.gov and that online retail sales platforms usually 
include an ability for consumers to provide a product rating or other 
feedback, how might CPSC motivate the provision of safety-related 
feedback to SaferProducts.gov as a primary, or at least additional, 
mechanism for capturing information on consumer product-related 
incidents?
    13. How can the agency encourage the use of SaferProducts.gov among 
eligible reporters other than consumers, such as physicians, medical 
examiners, and first responders?

III. Options for Providing Input

    Interested parties may provide the requested information through 
written comments or through oral presentations at a public hearing, or 
through both methods. Written comments and oral presentations will 
become part of the public record. To submit written comments, see the 
information under the DATES and ADDRESSES sections of this document.
    At the public hearing, interested parties will have an opportunity 
to discuss their comments. To request the opportunity to make an oral 
presentation at the public hearing, see the information under the DATES 
and ADDRESSES sections of this document. Participants should limit 
their presentations to approximately 10 minutes, excluding time for 
questioning by the Commissioners. To avoid duplicate presentations, 
groups should designate a spokesperson, and the Commission reserves the 
right to limit presentation times, or impose further restrictions, as 
necessary.
    Interested parties who do not attend the public hearing in person 
will be able to view the public hearing through a webcast, but they 
will not be able to interact with the panels and presenters.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-01817 Filed 2-8-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P