PPB October 2021

What’s Happening Inside PPAI This Month P. 73 Product Responsibility Summit 2021 D2U Delivered A Week Of Valuable Compliance Education P. 74 PPAI PromoTalks Connects With Industry Entrepreneurs And PPAI’s New CEO And President, And Examines Supply Chain Challenges P. 75 Readers Share Insights On Client Inquiries, Weekend Work And Company Requirements On Vaccinations In PromoPolls P. 76 PPAI Welcomes New Team Member Jessica Smith, Public Relations Specialist Compiled by James Khattak Product Responsibility Summit 2021 D2UDelivered AWeek Of Valuable Compliance Education In August, industry compliance and product safety professionals took part in PPAI’s virtual Product Responsibility Summit 2021 Direct-2-You (D2U). Running August 16-19, the four-day virtual event explored the business implications, challenges and opportunities of regulatory issues. PPAI also held a new event immediately following Summit, Logistics Day Direct-2-You. The stand-alone event offered education focused on the logistics of importing in today’s world and discussed the challenges and pitfalls of international shipping along with best practices onmoving forward. “The Product Responsibility Action Group [PRAG], along with PPAI staff, diligently worked this year to bring Summit to industrymembers,” says Brian Campbell, vice president of supply chain compliance at distributor 4imprint, and chair of PRAG. “There was a variety of content and our goal was tomake sure it spoke to attendees by providing new insight, perspective and information that they have come to expect fromSummit in regards to product responsibility. In doing that, we were able to bring in expert speakers on topics that we felt are timely and relevant.” Summit’s programming featured a range of presentations, panel discussions, breakout sessions and roundtables that brought together experts fromboth the larger compliance and product responsibility field and the promotional products industry. In the virtual conference’s opening session, Amanda Levitt, a senior associate with Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, whose practice is focused on international trade and customs law, particularly relating to classification andmarking/country-of-origin issues, addressed the detention of importedmerchandise due to potential forced labor violations, the steps importers can take to ensure there is no forced labor in their supply chain, the legal framework for forced labor and new labor provisions, and options available to importers when their goods are detained. “Ahead, we can expect more detentions and withhold release orders (WROs), potential new regulations, legislation related to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and possibly forced labor globally,” Levitt said. “For now, importers should consider digging deeper into their supply chain, look out for mandates frombuyers to provide traceability documents and audit reports, and for opportunities for exporters with the best traceability and labor standards to gain new business.” Other Summit sessions explored Prop 65 settlement trends, best practices in establishing proper standards of care for promotional products, recyclingmaterial standards and simplified sustainability reports, restricted substance lists, FDA requirements andmore. Summit attendees also received a legislative update on regulatory developments. Another Summit speaker, Hilde Gunn Vestad, a former director at Lidl, shared 20 years of real-world supply chainmapping experience. In a conversation with Brian Campbell, vice president of supply chain compliance at 4imprint, and Nathan Cotter, vice president of compliance at Hit Promotional Products, | OCTOBER 2021 | 73 CONNECT