Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)

This morning it was announced internally at the CPSC that Commissioner Ann Marie Buerkle has become the Acting Chairman of the agency. The CPSC has not yet released a statement concerning the transition of the chairmanship from Elliot Kaye to Ann Marie Buerkle, but we have confirmed the…

We have had a huge election result, perhaps the most significant in our lifetime, potentially even exceeding what was called the Reagan Revolution. It is critical, particularly for anybody from Washington DC, to have a great deal of modesty and humility in prognosticating the future under the Trump…

Products like e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) have been under intense scrutiny in recent years from public health officials, legislators at all levels of government, and many other interested parties, including dozens of plaintiffs in lawsuits stemming from battery explosions and other injuries. Newly enacted…

This article originally appeared on Law360 on May 12, 2016 and provides additional analysis to our prior post on this subject.

There have been many twists and turns over the past four years concerning the CPSC’s regulation of certain high powered, rare-earth magnet sets and its litigation against various entities selling these magnets. In the latest chapter of the magnets saga, a federal court in Colorado has permanently enjoined…

President Obama signed Public Law 112-28 (“PL 112-28”) into law on August 12, 2011. PL 112-28 amended numerous provisions of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (“CPSIA”). One such amendment made a notable change to the operation of the CPSC’s Saferproducts.gov database with respect to claims that a…

Last year, we wrote about a growing trend of local jurisdictions regulating children’s products, primarily toys and apparel. One such jurisdiction, Albany County, NY, enacted a far-reaching ordinance, “Local Law J of 2014,” that prohibited the sale of children’s products containing seven chemicals of “high concern” (see previous…

[This article originally appeared on Law360.com on June 23, 2015.]

Earlier this year, we wrote about a far-reaching product safety ordinance enacted into law in Albany County, NY (the “County”) entitled “The Toxic Free Toys Act.” At the time, we expressed our concern that numerous issues would arise in the local law’s implementation and enforcement, particularly with respect…

Tomorrow, December 5, 2014, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will be briefed by staff on a recommendation to issue a proposed rule to permanently prohibit five phthalates – DINP, DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP, DCHP – from children’s toys and child care articles. The use of three phthalates…

At their April Senate confirmation hearing, both incoming CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye and Commissioner Joe Mohorovic pledged to Senator John Thune (R-SD) to submit plans for reducing third party testing burdens within 60 days of confirmation. Rather than send separate plans, Kaye and Mohorovic submitted a joint letter…

On October 28, 2014, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that Baja Inc., and its corporate affiliate, One World Technologies Inc., of Anderson, S.C., agreed to pay a $4.3 million civil penalty to resolve charges that it knowingly failed to immediately report certain defects and an…

Earlier this year, we began a series of blog entries to update our readers on legislative efforts on Capitol Hill that affect stakeholders within the product safety arena. Over the summer, we updated you on an amendment to an appropriations bill passed in the House of Representatives that…

We previously wrote about the recent 4th Circuit decision that ordered the unsealing of a district court opinion siding with a manufacturer who challenged a product safety report the CPSC planned to post on its Saferproducts.gov public database. The district court had previously redacted its opinion heavily and…

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rather forcefully reversed one of the key rulings of Maryland District Court Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. in the recent litigation involving the CPSC’s Saferproducts.gov public database. The Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of several consumer advocacy organizations and…

The long awaited announcement of a new CPSC Chairman is finally here. After more than a year of speculation and intrigue, the search ended right where it started today when President Obama announced that Elliot Kaye is his nominee to become the next Chairman of the CPSC.

Earlier this year, we blogged about Senator Kirstin Gillibrand’s (D-NY) announcement that she planned to introduce legislation expanding the scope of Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (“CPSIA”). That section of the CPSIA makes children’s toys and child care articles subject to a ban on…

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed suit in federal court against four California companies and six individuals for importing products that violate the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (“FHSA”) and the Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”). The individuals and companies — Toy Distribution, Inc., S&J Merchandise,…

In some breaking news from Capitol Hill, 20-term Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) has decided not to seek re-election in 2014. As the former Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and its current Ranking Member, Rep. Waxman played an instrumental role in framing and driving the…

Although the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) authorized a budget of $136.4 million for CPSC in fiscal year 2014, Congress set the CPSC’s authorization levels years before the recent budget climate took hold in Washington DC. In its 2014 budget request, the agency requested $117…

After Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (“CPSIA”) in 2008 and the major amendment to the CPSIA (Public Law 112-28) in 2011, the product safety world turned its attention and focus to CPSC regulatory action – and for good reason. Over the past five years, the…

At the end of December, Dimmeys, a large Australian discount department store, was fined approximately $3 million dollars by an Australian court for violating Australia’s federal product safety laws for the fifth time. The retailer’s supplier, Starite Distributors, was fined $600,000, and the owner of Dimmeys has been…

While the headquarters location of a federal agency may not seem highly newsworthy, a recent report that the CPSC has signed a new 10-year lease to remain at its current location in Bethesda, Maryland is very welcome news to many people both inside and outside the agency. The…

We have previously blogged about the sometimes difficult decision that companies face when classifying their products as “children’s” or “general-use” products and the uncertainty of predicting whether the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) will agree with their classification. Although companies who sell personalized products have different business models,…

Yesterday President Obama announced his intent to nominate Joseph P. Mohorovic as a Commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, he would succeed former Republican Commissioner Nancy Nord whose term expired at the end of October.

As readers of this blog are well aware, classifying products as “children’s products,” as opposed to “general use products,” has important ramifications under federal and state consumer product safety laws. For example, under federal law, namely the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (“CPSIA”), children’s products must meet strict…

I used to jokingly tell people that when I moved from design engineering into the law I went from the most productive field in the world to the most counter-productive field. This joke plays on the common misconception that lawyers are risk-averse naysayers who stifle innovation and focus…

This month marks the five year anniversary of the enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 into law. Commonly referred to as the “CPSIA,” the law has had a dramatic impact over the past five years on all firms involved in manufacturing, importing and selling…

When you board a ride at an amusement park, the question of who regulates the ride vs. the toy you just won is probably the last thing on your mind.

A unanimous U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) announced that Ross Stores Inc. (“Ross”), a national discount retailer, agreed to pay a $3.9 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it failed to report its continued sale of banned children’s upper outerwear containing drawstrings. In addition to paying…

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) recently proposed to substantially alter its 2008 regulation governing the form and contents of certificates of compliance for consumer products. Commonly referred to as “GCCs” within the retail and manufacturing industries, certificates of compliance are used to establish a product’s compliance…