On May 16, 2024, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) took an unconventional action, unilaterally issuing a recall announcement urging consumers to dispose of CHZHVAN Combination Smoke and Carbon...more
In a closely watched case, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on July 29, 2024, found that Amazon's popular "Fulfilled by Amazon" program – in which products are listed by Amazon but sold by third-party...more
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced on July 30, 2024, that it issued a Decision and Order against Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon). CPCS states that, in a unanimous vote, it “determined that Amazon was a...more
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or the “Commission”) has scheduled a public hearing on May 8, 2024, to hear stakeholders’ views on the Commission’s priorities for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. This annual...more
In this final installment of our series (see part 1, part 2, and part 3) discussing CPSC’s presence at the 2024 International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization’s annual symposium, we present two smaller, but...more
Join us over the next few months as we spotlight select chapters of Venable’s popular Advertising Law Tool Kit, which helps marketing teams navigate their organization’s legal risk....more
In November 2023, a jury convicted two corporate executives of conspiracy and failure to report information about defective residential dehumidifiers as required by the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). The jury verdict is...more
Data from U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) shows that more consumer products are being recalled now than they have been in recent years. The U.S. PIRG Education Fund published a report on February 2, 2023...more
As 2022 came to a close, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) had one last order of business. On December 28, 2022, the CPSC provisionally accepted a settlement agreement with Peloton Interactive, Inc....more
On January 5, 2023, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported Peloton agreed to pay a $19,065,000 civil penalty as a settlement regarding its Tread+ treadmill, approximately a year and a half after the CPSC and...more
On May 16, President Biden signed the Safe Sleep for Babies Act into law, less than two weeks after being passed by Congress. The Act addresses the controversy around inclined sleepers and crib bumpers for infants by banning...more
Over the course of about a week, the CPSC, an agency that rarely litigates, flexed its litigation muscles not once, but twice, recently filing complaints against Amazon and Thyssenkrupp Access Corp., seeking to force both...more
Last week, the fitness tech firm Peloton Interactive, Inc (Peloton) announced voluntary recalls of two treadmill machines. Peloton’s announcement, and a corresponding announcement by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety...more
During the Trump administration, the number of consumer product safety recalls fell for three years in a row. When Robert Adler became Acting Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 2019, he compared...more
Product Recalls to Protect the Consumer? Is the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a federal agency charged with protecting the safety of Americans from dangerous and deadly items in the marketplace, doing its job? A...more
Doctors, hospitals, insurers, politicians, and businesses may assail the civil justice system over sums it awards to people who have proven they have been harmed. But as significant as some judgments may be, they may be...more
Welcome to the December edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot. The CPSC has come under scrutiny this year by some who feel it did not appropriately handle complaints about certain consumer products, prompting...more
One of the nation’s top consumer protection agencies cozied up to the businesses it was supposed to watch over, leaving children and other consumers vulnerable to significant harms....more
Welcome to the November edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot. Earlier this month, the CPSC Office of the General Counsel presented the commission with a draft supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to...more
Welcome to the October edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot. Effective October 1, 2019, Commissioner Bob Adler became the acting chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. He was elected by...more
Welcome to the August edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot. ASTM International published an update to ASTM F2057, the voluntary furniture stability standard. The new standard applies to dressers and other...more
Welcome to the July edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot. The CPSC’s mandatory federal high chair safety standard took effect in June. The rule was unanimously approved by the CPSC in 2018 and became effective...more
Welcome to the June edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot. In May, the CPSC held its public hearing on the commission’s agenda and priorities for Fiscal years 2020–2021. ...more
The conventional advice to manufacturers and retailers of consumer products when assessing a potential product safety issue is typically as follows: “When in doubt, report.” And while it is still generally good advice to err...more
Welcome to the May edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot. The CPSC was in the spotlight in April. Earlier in the month, the U.S. House Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee conducted a hearing on CPSC...more