For families around fireworks, a product's classification can matter as much as the number printed in a regulation. In its February 2, 2017 proposal, the Consumer Product Safety Commission sought to retain a two-grain limit while specifying the composition that identified devices subject to it. Two grains referred to pyrotechnic-composition mass, not the weight of a retail package. [2017-02014][2016-21014]

The agency expected the proposed identification method to bring more devices under the limit than its existing testing-manual method. It said the practical consequence would be more devices considered banned. That was an anticipated regulatory effect, not a finding that injuries had already fallen or that every fireworks device faced the same mass restriction. [2017-02014][2016-21014]

An earlier September 2016 notice took a different legal approach. It proposed interpreting intent to produce audible effects through metallic powder in the burst charge and said that interpretation would not change parties' obligations. The February proposal expressly acknowledged that requiring a particular identification method would create a new requirement because the rules did not already prescribe one. [2017-02014][2016-21014]

The useful public-interest question is therefore whether a clearer classification method would identify the intended hazards without confusing the scope of the restriction. Keeping the numerical threshold does not mean keeping precisely the same covered products. These two CPSC documents explain that policy development; they do not establish final adoption, demonstrated consumer benefits or permission to treat products outside this particular provision as safe. [2017-02014][2016-21014]

Source documents

  1. Amendments to Fireworks Regulationshttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-02-02/html/2017-02014.htm
  2. Statement of Policy on the Commission's Interpretation of Intent To Produce Audible Effects Within the Meaning of the Commission's Fireworks Regulations Under the Federal Hazardous Substances Acthttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-09-06/html/2016-21014.htm