The CPSC has enhanced enforcement capabilities and potential fines have significantly increased. Also, the CPSC commissioners are expecting for there to be more fines and bigger fines for late reporting. As a result, manufacturers and product sellers need to be more diligent in post-sale surveillance, investigation, and analysis of incidents and litigation to identify potentially reportable situations.
Also, consumers and other entities can post product safety issues on a public database that is accessible to everyone. There have been thousands of postings since the database’s inception.
These issues and other regulatory issues can adversely affect a manufacturer and retailer and result in civil penalties, unnecessary recalls, bad publicity, and cause an increase in the number and severity of product liability claims and litigation.
Be sure to attend the Consumer Goods SLG Program on Wednesday, April 11th at the DRI Products Liability Conference in Las Vegas to hear from 3 experienced CPSC practitioners about this and other exciting consumer goods topics.
