The mandatory rule, in progress

Last reviewed July 2026.

How rulemaking became inevitable

The sequence is unusually clean in the public record. The industry and UL published voluntary CO standards (ANSI/PGMA G300, ANSI/UL 2201). CPSC studied their effectiveness and found they work — ~87% and ~100% of deaths averted respectively — and then found the market wasn't adopting them: compliance with UL 2201 "appears to be minimal," and G300 compliance "is still lacking for most models or units currently being sold" (CPSC, 2022). Proven fix, unadopted, against ~80 deaths a year: that is the fact pattern that produces a mandatory rule.

Where the rule stands

CPSC published its proposed Safety Standard for Portable Generators in the Federal Register in April 2023 (the NPRM), proposing mandatory limits on CO emissions and shutoff requirements — in substance, pushing the whole market toward what UL 2201 machines already do. Federal rulemaking moves slowly (comment periods, final-rule drafting, effective-date lead times, and litigation risk), which is why machines without any CO system remain legal to sell and common on shelves while the docket grinds forward. The docket, not this page, is authoritative for current status.

What it means for buying now

The regulatory direction is set: the CO-shutoff-plus-low-emission architecture is where the market ends up. Buying a no-shutoff machine today means buying the configuration the safety agency is actively regulating out — usually to save a double-digit sum on a storm purchase. The table shows which lines already meet the future rule's substance, and whose word you'd be taking for it.

The generators already on the right side of the rule →

We test nothing and give no safety advice — regulatory status is summarized from the linked public documents, which govern; rulemaking details change and the Federal Register docket is the source of record. No shutoff makes enclosed-space use safe at any regulatory stage.