Portable Fuel Container Safety Act Regulation

The Portable Fuel Container Safety Act of 2020 (PFCSA) provides that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission) must promulgate a rule to require flame mitigation devices in portable fuel containers that impede the propagation of flame into the container, unless the Commission determines that there is a voluntary standard for flame mitigation devices that achieves the same result. In January 2023, the Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of its determinations under the PFCSA that three such voluntary standards collectively apply to all known classes of portable fuel containers. Pursuant to the PFCSA, therefore, the requirements of the three voluntary standards are treated as a consumer product safety rule under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). ASTM then notified the Commission that one standard had been revised. The Commission evaluated the revised standard and found that the revisions carry out the purposes of the PFCSA. Accordingly the revisions will be incorporated into the mandatory standard for portable fuel containers. This direct final rule creates a new part codifying the incorporation by reference of this revised standard and the other two voluntary standards that are mandatory under the PFCSA.