§1262 Declaration of hazardous substances

Summary

The Commission can choose to call a substance or mixture a “hazardous substance” when doing so will help clear up how the law applies. It can make rules to do that and must follow the special steps later described for making, changing, or removing those rules. If the Commission decides that ordinary label rules do not protect people because a particular hazardous substance is especially risky, it can require extra or different labels. If a household product or something made for children should have those special labels but does not, the product is treated as mislabeled. The Commission can also make rules that excuse small packages or low‑risk items from full labeling when full labeling is not practical or needed to protect people. If another federal law already sets good safety rules for a substance or its container, the Commission may exempt that substance from these rules. For toys or other items made for children that pose electrical, mechanical, or heat hazards, the Commission must use the usual notice‑and‑comment rulemaking process unless it picks a different authorized process. If the Commission finds such a toy or item poses an immediate danger to public health, it can publish an order saying the item is banned while the rulemaking goes forward. Anyone hurt by a final rule that says a child’s toy is hazardous may ask a federal appeals court to review that rule within 60 days after the rule is issued. The court can allow new evidence if it was not available earlier and can send that evidence back to the Commission for more fact‑finding. Before starting a rule that would ban or specially regulate an article, the Commission must publish an advance notice that says what the article is, what the risk is, and what regulatory options it is considering. That notice must summarize any known standards and why they may not fix the risk. The notice must invite public comment for at least 30 days but no more than 60 days. It must also invite people to submit an existing standard or to say they will work on a voluntary standard; those invitations must allow at least 30 days to respond. If a submitted standard would likely eliminate or reduce the risk, the Commission may use that standard as a proposed rule. The Commission may rely on voluntary standards only if they are likely to work and if many people will actually follow them; when it does rely on them, it must set up ways to check compliance. Any proposed ban or special rule must be published with a preliminary analysis of expected benefits and costs, why submitted standards weren’t used, and why voluntary efforts are not likely to solve the problem soon. Before issuing a final rule, the Commission must prepare a final analysis of benefits, costs, and alternatives, summarize public comments, and make written findings that voluntary standards are inadequate or unlikely to be followed, that benefits reasonably relate to costs, and that the chosen rule is the least burdensome way to reduce the risk. Those analyses are part of the official record but are not separately reviewable in court. The Commission must respond to petitions asking it to start rulemaking within a reasonable time and must explain its reasons. It cannot deny a petition based on a voluntary standard unless that standard already exists at the time of denial, is likely to fix the risk, and is likely to have broad compliance.