Representative Samples Amendments Up for Vote as Written

The action was part of a package of documents and proposals offered by CPSC staff last fall (PSL, 10/24/11, p. 1) on the overall testing and certification rule that becomes effective early next year. The move is necessary because last summer’s CPSIA update law (PSL, 8/8/11, p. 1) changed the term random sample to representative sample.

Among concerns addressed by CPSC staffer in explaining why there are no revisions is the question of whether it is providing an actual definition of representative sample. They wrote in the comments overview:

“[W]e define a ‘representative sample’ in proposed § 1107.21(f) as one that provides the manufacturer with a basis for inferring the compliance of the untested units of the product population from the tested units. In other words, the manufacturer must have a basis for thinking that the units making up the sample to be tested (or the representative sample) are like the untested units of the children’s product with respect to compliance to the applicable children’s product safety rule. The final rule maintains this definition, which places responsibility on the manufacturer to choose representative samples in a manner that provides a basis for inferring the compliance of the untested product units.”

They also addressed suggestions that the agency was defining representative sample “in a rigid way”; that such samples be anything that’s not a “golden sample”; that CPSC’s interpretation of ensure leaves little room for judgment or good faith; that CPCS consider random sampling as a subset of representative; and other comments.

The briefing package is at www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA12/brief/labelfinal.pdf.