by A vote was planned for Friday, March 31, but could be delayed until mid-April to allow commissioners to make public statements related to their votes
WASHINGTON — A Friday, March 31, vote by CPSC commissioners on whether to accept the updated ASTM F-2057-23 as the mandatory safety standard for clothing storage units has been delayed for what could be another two weeks.
The American Home Furnishings Alliance said it was informed earlier this week that a ballot vote intended for this past Tuesday, March 28, had been rescheduled for Friday, March 31.
However, it was informed Thursday that a live vote was requested by the commission, which would allow one or more of the four commissioners to make public statements related to their votes. While the AFHA said a date has not been announced for the rescheduled vote, officials said that it could occur sometime in mid-April.
This follows the recent completion of a CPSC staff review of the standard as required by the STURDY Act (Stop Tip-Overs of Risky Dressers on Youth Act) which was signed into law by President Biden in late December. Upon completion of its review, staff advised the commissioners on March 22 that they could adopt the updated F2057-23 as a mandatory product safety standard as it meets the requirements of STURDY.
Accepting the voluntary standard as the mandatory standard would automatically put a stay on the May 24 implementation of the CPSC’s own safety standard for clothing storage units.
The industry — which along with parent groups and lawmakers who worked diligently to negotiate the STURDY Act — largely supports STURDY as the testing methods are considered to be “objective, repeatable, reproduceable and measurable.”
Thus, industry officials say, these testing methods actually determine whether a case piece is compliant versus non-compliant as opposed to a sliding scale of more or less compliant determined by a series of complex mathematical formulas required under the CPSC rule.
Home News Now has reached out to the CPSC for additional comment but has not yet received a response.
