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Consumer Product Safety Commission Weakens Reporting Rules on Potentially Dangerous Products
Commission Puts Industry Profits over the Health and Safety of American Public

Thursday, July 13, 2006 (Washington DC)—The Consumer Product Safety Commission's decision to weaken rules governing when companies should be required to report potentially dangerous products represents a sop to the industries the CPSC is duty-bound to regulate and further endangers the nation's families.

"These changes were agreed to at the behest of regulated industries to afford them deniability in instances where hazardous products result in serious injury and even death,'' said Jon Haber, executive director of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. "The move eliminates a key incentive for corporations to act responsibly and represents a backwards step in the effort to protect the American public.''

In a little noticed move, the three-member Commission voted 2-1 on July 13 to revise the CPSC's product hazard reporting guidelines. The Commission staff now is saddled with assessing additional criteria before determining that a company failed to report potential problems in an appropriate and timely manner - a determination that often leads to stiff civil penalties.

Hereinafter, CPSC staff will have to look beyond whether a product represents a danger to determine the obviousness of a risk, the adequacy of warnings to mitigate the potential risk, the role of consumer misuse in rendering the product dangerous and whether consumer misuse was foreseeable.

The new rules make it easier for companies to avoid reporting potential problems to the CPSC.

Commissioner Thomas Moore, in dissent, noted that many of the changes were requested by regulated industries and that the new rules could add confusion, creating a "safe harbor'' for firms that choose not to report suspected hazards

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