NEWS from CPSC - 1995 - Old news!
U.S. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20207
August 17, 1995
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rick Frost
(301) 504-0580 Ext. 1166
Release # 95-156
CPSC ANNOUNCES TWO INITIATIVES TO STREAMLINE PRODUCT RECALL
PROCESS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
today announced two initiatives to encourage companies to report
and correct potentially dangerous products. CPSC helps ensure
that consumers are safe from unreasonable risk of injury or death
associated with the more than 15,000 types of consumer products
under the agency's jurisdiction, and works with industry to
recall products when they are not safe.
Under the law, companies are required to report product
hazards to CPSC. If companies are aware of product hazards but
fail to report them, the companies risk serious civil and/or
criminal penalties. CPSC's new programs focus on correcting
product hazards rather than punishing misconduct.
For a six-month period beginning on August 17, the date of
notice in the Federal Register, companies can report product
hazards that they had failed to report earlier, without facing
fines. This program is designed to motivate firms to "clean out
their closets" of unreported hazards and take any corrective
action that is necessary. This will encourage companies to work
with CPSC to remove dangerous products from the marketplace.
"Our mission is to keep people safe in their homes," CPSC
Chairman Ann Brown said. "Programs like these will help save
lives."
In addition, CPSC has announced a new program to streamline
government and make recalls occur more quickly. If a manufacturer
agrees to conduct a requested recall quickly, CPSC will expedite
its customary hazard analysis and not make a preliminary hazard
determination. This will accelerate the recall process and get
potentially dangerous products out of the hands of consumers,
while alleviating industry concerns that a formal staff
determination of hazard may have adverse consequences in private
litigation.
"We are eliminating possible deterrents to prompt reporting
and quick recalls," Brown said. "These initiatives are another
example of how CPSC is living up to its reputation as a model
government agency and fulfilling its role in what I call the
safety triangle: the cooperation between industry, the government
and consumers."
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