CPSC has also put up the full briefing package that was prepared for the Commissioners to aid in making the decision on their helmet standard. It has useful background if you are trying to understand how the standard came into being.

You can find the documents in five sections. They are in Adobe .pdf format and are large files. You can access the CPSC Index Page and find the five links or use the links below.

• Section 1
• Section 2
• Section 3
• Section 4
• Section 5

CPSC's Plain English summary

BHSI's Collection

We have a lot of documents collected as the Consumer Product Safety Commission was developing its standard:

• The final helmet standard as a .pdf file.
• The final standard as text.
• A letter modifying that standard with an interpretation.
• The law that forced the Commission to develop a bicycle helmet standard.
• The first draft standard.
• The second draft.
• CPSC's Supplementary Material for briefings on that draft.
• A summary of changes in the second draft.
• Our formal comments on the draft.
• Our April, 1995, comments on what we thought it still needed
• The CPSC notice implementing the interim standard
• Our 1996 comments on adding reflectivity and lowering the impact fail criterion for toddler helmets to 250g.
• The third and final draft, approved on February 5, 1998.
• Our comments on the final draft.
• Three of our Update newsletters on the standard in early 1998.
• A letter from CPSC on how they will enforce the standard.
• A page about CPSC recall rules and enforcement penalties.
• A report of serious legal consequences for a manufacturer ignoring a CPSC Rule.
• CPSC's notification that it is continuing its reporting requirements. (Routine renewal)
• How CPSC can act to replace a non-working voluntary standard with a law..
• A page of photos of the CPSC helmet test lab.
• How to Send a Defective Helmet to CPSC
• Our June, 2003 request under the Freedom of Information Act for a list of all recent CPSC helmet compliance cases. They referred us to the list of recalls on their Web page. We are asking for our list again.
• CPSC recall info from previous FOIA requests is available on their Web site. For one specific recall that involved a Bell helmet, see these three segments:

  Section 1
  Section 2
  Section 3

Our page on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

This page was last revised on: September 7, 2008.

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