Flam ChldrnSleepwearSupStmnt 2019

Information Collection Request
Standards for the Flammability of Children’s Sleepwear sizes 0-6X and sizes 7-14
Supporting Statement

A.

Justification

1. Information to be collected and circumstances that make the collection
of information necessary
The Standard for the Flammability of Children’s Sleepwear, sizes 0-6X
was issued in 1971 and became effective on July 29, 1972. The Standard for the
Flammability of Children’s Sleepwear, Sizes 7-14 was issued in 1974 and
became effective on May 1, 1975. Both standards were issued under Section 4
of the Flammable Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 1193) to reduce the unreasonable risk
of burn injuries and deaths associated with children’s sleepwear.
The standards, which are substantially similar, establish flammability
performance requirements for all children’s sleepwear garments and fabric
intended for use in such garments. To meet the acceptance criteria of the
standard, samples of a fabric or garment must burn slowly and self extinguish
once the flame source is removed.
The children’s sleepwear flammability standards require manufacturers
and importers of children’s sleepwear garments and fabrics to perform periodic
testing of representative samples to assure that children’s sleepwear items meet
the performance requirements of the standards. Enforcement rules
implementing the sleepwear standards require manufacturers and importers to
establish and maintain records of the testing required by the standard for a
period of three years.
On May 12, 1983 (48 FR 21310), the Commission issued amendments to
reduce the information collection burden imposed on the regulated industry by
the standards and enforcement rules. The enforcement rules were amended to
allow manufacturers and importers of items subject to the standards to use
apparatus or procedures other than those described in the standard for the
purpose of performing the pre-market testing required by the standards, provided
that the tests utilizing such alternate apparatus and procedures are as stringent
as, or more stringent than, tests using the apparatus and procedures described
in the standards.
2. Use and sharing of collected information
The required recordkeeping is used to assure compliance with the
standards. The records are retained by the firm and made available to a
designated officer or employee of the Commission at his or her request. Such

requests are generally made during an on-site inspection to assure compliance
with the standards.
If the records required by the enforcement rules were not maintained, the
Commission would be unable to determine whether manufacturers and importers
of items subject to the children’s sleepwear standards are in compliance with the
requirements of those standards.
3. Use of information technology (IT) in information collection
As noted in item 1 above, the Commission amended the rules in 1983 to
allow use of newly developed test equipment that would enable testing to be
performed more quickly and at a lower cost. The Commission began the
proceeding to issue these amendments after receiving a request from a
manufacturer of children’s sleepwear for approval of alternate test apparatus. At
the option of the firm, any technology including electronic recordkeeping, to
compile and maintain business records may be used to comply with the
regulations. Information is not normally submitted to CPSC unless specifically
requested during compliance related activities.
4. Efforts to identify duplication
The recordkeeping requirements were reviewed for potential duplication
by the Commission, by members of the affected industry, and by other interested
parties during the proceedings to develop the enforcement rules for both
flammability standards. These proceedings included opportunity for submission
of written comments by the affected industry and other interested parties. There
are no CPSC or other requirements that duplicate the information collected under
the Standards’ implementing rules.
5. Impact on small business
The standards and enforcement rules affect many small firms, because
most children’s sleepwear manufacturers are small firms. Over time, the
Commission has looked for ways to reduce the burden without reducing the
protection to consumers. In 1989, in accordance with Section 610 of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA, 5 U.S.C. 610), the Commission reviewed all
standards issued under the Flammable Fabrics Act, including the children’s
sleepwear standards. The Commission concluded that no further action was
warranted under the provisions of the RFA. A copy of the report accompanied
the renewal request submitted in 1989.
In 1996, the Commission amended the children’s sleepwear standards to
exempt “tight-fitting” sleepwear and all garments sized 9 months and under from
the requirements of the sleepwear flammability standards. This amendment
followed a study indicating a low risk of injury associated with tight-fitting

sleepwear. The Commission subsequently issued technical changes to this
amendment in 1999. Suppliers of exempted garments must still perform and
maintain records of garment measurements to establish the exemptions. The
amendment provided flexibility to industry and reduced the testing burden on
industry, including small manufacturers and importers, without adversely
affecting safety.
6. Consequences to Federal program or policy activities if collection is not
conducted or is conducted less frequently
If the amount of testing required by the standards were reduced, the
assurance that items from production units meet the performance requirements
of the standards would be reduced, and the protection afforded by the standards
may be reduced. Each of the children’s sleepwear standards contains a
sampling plan, which is a schedule for sampling and testing of items subject to
the requirements of the standard before those items can be released for sale.
The sampling plan in each standard prescribes an amount of testing which has
been calculated to provide a high degree of assurance that items from production
units which have been sampled and tested with acceptable results will meet the
performance requirements of the standard, and will protect children from burn
injuries which might otherwise result from accidental ignition of sleepwear.
7. Special circumstances requiring respondents to report information more
often than quarterly or to prepare responses in fewer than 30 days
Not applicable. There no circumstances that would require respondents to
report information more often than quarterly or to prepare responses in fewer
than 30 days.
8. Agency’s Federal Register Notice and related information
A Federal Register Notice was published March 14, 2019. One comment
was received and it was addressed in 84 FR 26659, published June 7, 2019.
9. Decision to provide payment or gift
Not applicable. There are no payments or gifts to respondents.
10. Assurance of confidentiality
Any information required to be maintained by the standards and
enforcement rules which the manufacturer or importer claims to be confidential is
subject to procedures for withholding confidential information from public
disclosure set forth at 16 CFR Part 1015, subpart B.
11. Questions of a sensitive nature

Not applicable. There are no questions of a sensitive nature.
12. Estimate of hour burden to respondents
CPSC staff has reviewed information collected during past firm
inspections and has developed independent information on the time required to
conduct flammability tests and maintain records of such tests. Testing performed
by the CPSC Laboratory and by companies subject to the Standards shows that
the average time to conduct the required series of tests and create and maintain
records of those tests is three hours per garment production unit. Tests are
performed and records are established only when new products are introduced
into commerce and the test results for similar, existing items are insufficient to
establish compliance for those new products.
The U.S. Census of Business reports that in 2016 there were
approximately 6,212 domestic firms producing non jewelry apparel. 1 Of these,
6,172 or 99.4% of these were classified as small businesses according to the
Small Business Administration’s guidelines. The portion of these firms that
manufacture children’s apparel is difficult to determine but it should be highly
correlated with the proportion of children in the U.S. population. The rule applies
to clothing sizes that would typically fit children aged 12 and under. Based on
the 2010 Census, children aged of 12 and under were 15.8 percent of the U.S.
population. Some of these firms may not manufacture sleep apparel so the firms
subject to the rule may be overstated. Therefore we estimate that there could be
as many as 981 (6,212 x 0.158) apparel manufacturers subject to the rule with
975 (981 x 0.994) being classified as small businesses. Furthermore, using
Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) codes for children’s sleepwear we found
approximately 3,037 importers that supply children’s sleepwear to the U.S.
market. Many of the 981 domestic manufacturers, along with many large U.S.
retailers, may be among the importers, so this too could be an overstatement of
firms subject to the rule. If all 981 U.S. producers and all 3,037 importers
introduced new children’s sleepwear garments each year, the total number of
firms subject to the CPSC recordkeeping requirements each year would be 4,018
(981 + 3,037). This is a likely overestimate of the actual number of firms
performing tests and creating records in a given year because not every
domestic children’s apparel manufacturer will produce sleepwear.
CPSC staff estimates that the 50 largest domestic manufacturers and the
100 largest importers may each introduce an average of 100 new children’s
sleepwear items annually that are accompanied by new tests and records, for a
1

Based on the following NAICS codes: 315110 - Hosiery and Sock Mills, 315190 - Other Apparel
Knitting Mills, 315210 - Cut and Sew Apparel Contractors, 315220 - Men’s and Boys’ Cut and
Sew Apparel Manufacturing, 315240 - Women’s Girls’ and Infants’ Cut and Sew Apparel
Manufacturing, 315280 - Other Cut and Sew Apparel Manufacturing, and 315990 - Apparel
Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing

total of 45,000 hours (150 firms x 100 items x 3 hours). CPSC staff estimates that
the remaining 931 manufacturers and 2,937 importers may each introduce an
average of 10 new children’s sleepwear items, for a total testing and
recordkeeping burden of 116,040 hours (3,868 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 161,040 hours (45,000 + 116,040).
The annual cost to the industry is estimated to be $11,208,384 based on an
hourly wage of $69.60 x 161,040 hours. 2
13. Estimates of other total annual cost burden to respondents or
recordkeepers
There are no costs to respondents beyond those presented in Section
A.12. There are no operating, maintenance, or capital costs associated with the
collection.
14. Estimate of annualized costs to the Federal government
The estimated cost of the information collection requirements to the
Federal government is approximately $55,332. This is based on an estimated
three staff months for examination of the information in records required to be
maintained by the standards and regulations. This estimate uses an average
wage rate of $62.43 per hour (the equivalent of a GS-14 Step 5 employee) with
an additional 32.3 percent added for benefits or $92.22 per hour x 600 hours. 3
15. Program changes or adjustments
The change in burden estimate comes from two sources. The first comes
from updating our methodology to anchor the number of domestic children’s
apparel manufactures to the proportion of children (15.8%) in the U.S.
population. In 2019 we estimated domestic manufactures to be 981 (6,212 x
0.158) which may be more precise and more consistently updated than the 2015
estimated range of 550-1050 domestic manufactures. The second source comes
from a reduction in the number of nightwear importers from 4,500 to 3,037
according to USITC data. The net result is a reduction of 45,960 hours (a
reduction of 69 manufactures and a reduction of 1463 importers, multiplied by 30
response hours per firm).

2

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” June 2018,
Table 9, total compensation for management, professional, and related workers in goodsproducing private industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs
3 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” June 2018,
Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related
employees.

16. Plans for tabulation and publication
Collection of information results will not be published.
17. Rationale for not displaying the expiration date for OMB approval
We are not seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB
approval of the information collection.
18. Exception to the certification statement
There are no exceptions to the certification statement identified in item 19,
“Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions,” of OMB Form 83-I.
B.

Statistical Methods

The information collection requirements in the standards and enforcement
rules do not employ statistical methods.