CPSC withdraws the notice of proposed rulemaking to establish a safety standard for lithium-Ion batteries used in mobility products

In recent weeks, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted three to two to move forward with a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) regarding the new safety standard for lithium ion batteries. Since that occurred, however, Trump fired all three Democratic commissioners on May 8th, 2025. As a result, the remaining two Republican commissioners acting chair Peter Feldman and commissioner Douglas Dziak voted unanimously on May 13th to withdraw the notice of proposed rulemaking to establish a safety standard for lithium-Ion batteries used in mobility products and electrical systems of mobility products containing such batteries. The very terse order can be read here.

As some of you may know, the draft safety standard was referred to the Office of information and Regulatory Affairs, which reviews and coordinates proposed regulations to ensure that they comply with President Trump's agenda. No word on what happened with this NPR with respect to that department. However, it doesn't really matter as the notice of proposed rulemaking has been killed.

As you also probably know from reading this blog, there is proposed legislation on lithium ion batteries in mobility devices and it's still moving through Congress. The house passed HR 973 on April 28th 2025 and if the Senate goes along with this and also passes it under its companion bill, it would then require the CPSC to only make the three current UL voluntary standards, UL 2271, UL 2849 and UL2272, mandatory. The notice of proposed rulemaking would have gone beyond the voluntary standards for all of the reasons laid out in the notice of proposed rulemaking. Of course, industry would have been given an opportunity to offer suggestions to the notice of proposed rulemaking, but that will not happen at this point. And of course we are not sure at this point if the legislation will pass the senate. Also if the three CPSC commissions successfully sue for their jobs back this could be reversed again, of course adding more uncertainty to manufacturers already full plate of “tariff uncertainty”. Watch this space for further developments.

Law Offices of Steven W. Hansen | www.swhlaw.com | 562 866 6228 © Copyright 1996-2025 Conditions of Use

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) fall update 2024

Federal law requires each agency to publish, twice a year, a regulatory agenda of regulations under development or review during the next year. 58 FR 51735. Agencies may combine this agenda with the regulatory flexibility agenda required under the RFA. The agenda required by Executive Order 12866 must include all the regulations the agency expects to develop or review during the next 12 months, regardless of whether they may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. So with that backdrop we take a look at the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda proposed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on August 16 2024.

The first thing we noticed is the absence in the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda (SRA) of any reference to the looming "electronic certificates of compliance" which we last reported on in Feb 2024. It was announced today (Sept 4 2024) that the "final" rule would be issued in 2025. No idea when it will be made effective but we suspect 3-6 months after issuance. This will have a huge effect on the bike industry depending on how 16 CFR 1512 is interpreted by the commission (if its viewed as complete bike regulation or a component regulation) and how our Feb 2024 comments are dealt with by the commission. (no word on that yet) 

Also there is a lack of any information in the SRA related to "e-bikes" or "e bike batteries" as well. Don't forget the huge fanfare regarding this meeting in July 2023 and now, you guessed it, crickets from CPSC. We will keep you posted on the latest regarding the forgoing. But it does not look like a very active year for CPSC as it relates to bikes, e-bikes or e bike batteries. I guess we will have to wait for Congress to act.

Law Offices of Steven W. Hansen | www.swhlaw.com | 562 866 6228 © Copyright 1996-2020 Conditions of Use

Effective March 7, 2024, new fire code legislation takes effect for lithium-ion batteries for Powered Mobility Devices in San Francisco.

Following New York City in 2023 the city of San Francisco has developed a new fire code in effect as of March 7 regarding the use and charging of lithium ion batteries. Hopefully the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) moved much faster on its hinting of taking action on batteries this year because to have many sets of state and local laws regarding batteries is going to be very confusing and disruptive for the industry. The longer the CPSC waits the worse this problem is going to get with conflicting state and local laws. Also some of these fire code issues like with this one deal with the storage and charging aspects (that affect users and more importantly retailers) that go beyond a "product only" design type of standard which I expect out of CPSC at some point.

The new code section available in full here defines Powered Mobility Devices (PMDs) as devices powered by a lithium-ion battery with the primary purpose of transporting people, such as electric bikes, scooters, hoverboards, or skateboards. PMDs do not include wheelchairs or other devices used by persons with disabilities.
- All PMDs in San Francisco must be Safety-Certified, which is defined as compliance with one of the following certification requirements:
 Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standards UL 2849 or UL 2272
 European (EN) standards EN 15194 or EN 17128
 Other safety standard of an accredited laboratory, approved by the San Francisco Fire Department.

Law Offices of Steven W. Hansen | www.swhlaw.com | 562 866 6228 © Copyright 1996-2020 Conditions of Use