Flammability Standards for Children's Sleepwear

On July 27, 2022, the Consumer Product Safety Commission published in the Federal Register (87 FR 45089) Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Flammability Standards for Children's Sleepwear.

Estimated Number of Respondents: Based on a review of past inspections and published industry information, CPSC staff estimates that there could be as many as 866 domestic children's apparel manufacturers in the United States subject to the rule. However, not all these manufacturers will produce children's sleepwear. Therefore, this figure is likely an overestimate of the actual number of firms performing tests and creating records in any given year. Furthermore, using the Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) codes for children's sleepwear, CPSC staff found approximately 3,641 importers that supply children's sleepwear to the U.S. market. Many of the 866 domestic manufacturers, along with many large U.S. retailers, may be among the importers. However, if all 866 U.S. producers and, in addition, all 3,641 importers did introduce new children's sleepwear garments each year, the total number of firms subject to the CPSC recordkeeping requirements each year would be 4,507 (866 + 3,641). As noted, the actual number of firms is likely lower.

Estimated Time per Response: Testing and recordkeeping of each sleepwear item is approximately 3 hours.

Total Estimated Annual Burden: The 50 largest domestic manufacturers and the 100 largest importers may each introduce an average of 100 new children's sleepwear items annually. The annual burden for the 50 large domestic manufacturers and the 100 largest importers is estimated at 45,000 hours for testing and recordkeeping (150 firms x 100 items x 3 hours). Without adjusting for possible double-counting, CPSC staff estimates that the remaining 816 manufacturers and 3,541 importers may each introduce an average of 10 new children's sleepwear items, for a total testing and recordkeeping burden of 130,710 hours (4,357 x 10 items x 3 hours.) Therefore, the total estimated potential annual burden imposed by the standard and regulations on all manufacturers and importers of children's sleepwear will be about 175,710 hours (45,000 + 130,710). The annual cost to the industry is estimated to be $12,369,984 based on an hourly wage of $70.40 x 175,710 hours.