CPSC Plans to Create "SaferProducts.gov" Product Incident Database
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted its report to Congress on CPSC plans to implement a publicly accessible, searchable database of consumer product incident reports, as required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The database is currently being referred to as "SaferProducts.gov."
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
CPSC's report contains plans for the operation, content, maintenance, and functionality of this database; plans for a public awareness campaign to promote it; and an implementation schedule.
Industry Portal Will Allow Manufacturers/Retailers to Comment
SaferProducts.gov will engage manufacturers and retailers through a separate industry portal that will allow authorized and registered companies to comment on incident reports submitted via the public portal.
The range of industry responses may include editing or expanding a printed warning on a product, adjusting an age limit for the use of a product, sharing additional information with consumers, etc.
Companies will only be authorized to use sites and data that are necessary for their contributions. In addition, if the manufacturer indicates that a report contains confidential data, CPSC will have the ability to redact this data.
(Once the industry portal is on-line, CPSC will issue guidance to manufacturers and retailers about the procedures that they need to follow to comment on incident reports.)
Public Portal Will Include Incidents, Recalls, Manufacturer Comments, Etc.
The database's public portal will:
raise public awareness of new, easier methods for reporting product incidents,
provide the public with new ways to learn of product incidents and notices of recalls,
increase public access to product incident information, including manufacturer comments and CPSC's responses to incident reports; and
enhance CPSC's ability to share information with other federal, state, and local agencies.
CPSC report to Congress (dated 09/10/09) available at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/reports/cpsia212.pdf