November 2, 2006
                              
Ms. Page C. Faulk
General Counsel
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
4330 East West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814

Re: Standards for the Flammability (Open Flame) of Mattress
Sets (71 Fed. Reg 13472, March 15, 2006)

Dear Ms. Faulk:

Congress established the Office of Advocacy (Advocacy) under
Pub. L. 94-305 to represent the views of small business
before Federal agencies and Congress.  Advocacy is an
independent office within the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA); as such the views expressed by
Advocacy do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA or
of the Administration.

As Chief Counsel for Advocacy, I am writing because my
office has received several oral and written contacts from
small businesses that are concerned with the Consumer
Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) final rule on Standards
for the Flammability (Open Flame) of Mattress Sets (71 Fed.
Reg. 13472, March 15, 2006).  Also, the U.S. Small Business
Administration's Office of the National Ombudsman referred
various small business inquiries to Advocacy relative to
this matter.  While my office supports the public policy
behind the rule, small businesses-which comprise 97.7
percent of the mattress manufacturers-are concerned that the
regulation's requirements will result in a significant
economic impact upon the industry.  One way to address
industry concerns may be to ensure that small businesses are
educated adequately about the requirements of the rule in
advance of implementation.

I commend the CPSC for preparing the Initial Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis in the proposed rule, and for the
additional analysis in the Final Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis (FRFA) contained in the final rule.  Since the CPSC
has concluded that the rule is significant and a FRFA was
prepared, the CPSC is required to publish a compliance guide
pursuant to Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA).(1)  Section 212 states:
"For each rule or group of related rules for which an agency
is required to prepare a final regulatory flexibility
analysis under section 604 of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act, the agency shall publish one or more guides to assist
small entities in complying with the rule, and shall
designate such publications as `small entity compliance
guides.'"  Although the CPSC has issued a compliance guide
for mattresses and mattress pads when exposed to cigarettes,
it does not appear that CPSC has produced such a guide for
the requirements of this most recent rule.  The compliance
guide would instruct small businesses on how to comply with
the rule's requirements and may serve to reassure them about
the numerous provisions of the regulation.

Thank you for your attention to the above matter. If you
have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to
contact me or Assistant Chief Counsel, Linwood Rayford at
(202) 401-6880, or www.linwood.rayford@sba.gov.


Sincerely yours,

Thomas M. Sullivan
Chief Counsel Advocacy

Linwood L. Rayford, III
Assistant Chief Counsel for Food, Drug
                         And Health Affairs

cc: Mary F. Toro, Assistant Director Office of Compliance,
U.S. Consumer Product
      Safety Commission
      Nicholas N. Owens, National Ombudsman, U.S. Small
Business Administration

ENDNOTES

1.  Pub. L. No. 104-121, 110 Stat.857, Section 212 (1996).