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Confirming last year’s theme
that increasing penalties are on
the horizon, Kaye’s remarks at
this year’s meeting delved further
into the CPSC’s position on the
size of potential civil penalty set-
tlements, particularly for compa-
nies that fail to file timely
Section 15(b) reports with the
CPSC. He stated that, when jus-
tified, he would like to see “dou-
ble digits” (i.e. at least $10 mil-
lion) in civil penalties. Sure
enough, three weeks later, the
CPSC announced a record
$15.45 million civil penalty set-
tlement with a company.
Kaye also noted the CPSC
would give greater scrutiny to the
“bad actors,” and said there will
be increased repercussions for
these companies when there are
problems. “The CPSC will weed
out the ‘bad actors’ and direct
enforcement efforts against
them,” he stated.
Whoa! Exactly who is a
“bad actor” in the eyes of the
CPSC? Surely companies that
deliberately flaunt reporting and
other product safety require-
ments, and produce unsafe or
dangerous products would be in
this category. Right now you’re
probably thinking, “Oh, good,
my company is safe. We are not
bad actors.”
What might surprise you is
that companies like yours that
do make good-faith efforts to
comply with all product safety
regulations can still wind up
being perceived by the CPSC as
“bad actors.” If and when your
In his “State of Product Safety” speech at the 2015 ICPHSO
Annual Meeting, CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye stated that the
Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) increase in per-
missible civil penalties for violations of the Consumer Product
Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) demonstrates Congress’ intent
to punish, deter and make sure that civil penalties are not just the
“cost of doing business.” He further noted, “I don’t think … that
we are seeing civil penalties that are reflective of what Congress
expected and demanded of us in the CPSIA.”
Product
Safety
Compliance
SOMETIMES GOOD INTENTIONS AREN’T ENOUGH
By David P. Callet
What might
surprise you is
that companies
like yours that
do make good-
faith efforts to
comply with all
product safety
regulations can
still wind up
being per-
ceived by the
CPSC as “bad
actors.”
JULY 2016 •
PPB
• 65
PRODUCT
RESPONSIBILITY
THINK