February/March 2009 / Features
Consumer Products Safety Update
Recalls of imported toys in 2007 led to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which increases civil and criminal penalties for consumer product safety violations, strengthens the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall authority and authorizes higher budgets and more staff.
Companies that manufacture, import, distribute, and sell consumer products are impacted. They must identify safety standards that relate to their products and verify that a testing program confirms their products comply. The Commission’s general counsel has opined that childrens’ products manufactured before the Act, and before the effective date of new lead and phthalate level certification standards, would be deemed noncompliant “substantial product hazards” once the new standards became effective in February 2009. At that time, tens of millions of dollars worth of products that complied with all relevant mandatory safety standards when they were manufactured were to be removed from store shelves. Test cases concerning retroactive application likely will be litigated in 2009.
The Act authorizes state attorneys general to enforce provisions of the Act within their states. It increases criminal penalties to felony levels and authorizes the forfeiture of assets associated with the violation. The authors include suggested risk management initiatives.