Retail & Consumer Products

In January, this space discussed the Maine and Connecticut laws that would require labeling for foods made with genetically engineered ingredients (GMOs).

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rather forcefully reversed one of the key rulings of Maryland District Court Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. in the recent litigation involving the CPSC’s Saferproducts.gov public database.

For the first time in nearly a year, a unanimous U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) announced that a company will pay a hefty civil penalty and enact a strict compliance program to resolve allegations regarding its reporting practices.

The long awaited announcement of a new CPSC Chairman is finally here. After more than a year of speculation and intrigue, the search ended right where it started today when President Obama announced that Elliot Kaye is his nominee to become the next Chairman of the CPSC.

Last week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a voluntary recall notice for the popular wireless, activity-tracking wristband Fitbit Force.

In his keynote address at the annual conference of the International Consumer Product Health & Safety Organization (ICPHSO), Acting Chairman Adler announced that the CPSC had recently started posting what it calls “letters of advice” (commonly referred to as LOAs) to its website.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed suit in federal court against four California companies and six individuals for importing products that violate the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (“FHSA”) and the Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”). 

Not to be left behind and not dependent on any other state action (Connecticut and Maine notwithstanding), a bill has been introduced (SB 1381) on February 21, 2014 that requires any food, with certain exceptions (more on that later), offered for retail sale in California to be labeled “Produced with Genetic Engineering” or “Partially Produced with Genetic Engineering” in the California State Senate.

We recently published an article with Law360 providing an analysis on CPSC's proposed amendments to its 6(b) Regulation (16 CFR 1101) that we want to share with our readers.

CPSC Commissioner Ann Marie Buerkle announced today that Joe Martyak, her Chief Counsel, has accepted a position as Vice President for Communications with the Hawaii Community Foundation and will be departing the agency this month.

The European Commission likely will propose an amendment to the European Union’s 2011 Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS Directive) before the summer.

As the February 4th commenting deadline for CPSC’s voluntary remedial actions rulemaking approaches, many companies and trade associations are pondering not only the wisdom of CPSC’s insertion of compliance programs into voluntary recall negotiations, but also how those compliance programs might evolve and take shape moving forward.

Although the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) authorized a budget of $136.4 million for CPSC in fiscal year 2014, Congress set the CPSC's authorization levels years before the recent budget climate took hold in Washington DC.

The CPSC has released the staff briefing package for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) to amend its existing regulation interpreting the requirements of Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).

After Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (“CPSIA”) in 2008 and the major amendment to the CPSIA (Public Law 112-28) in 2011, the product safety world turned its attention and focus to CPSC regulatory action – and for good reason. 

“As Maine goes, so goes the nation” was a phrase that described Maine’s reputation as a bellwether state for presidential elections from 1832 through approximately 1936.

At the end of December, Dimmeys, a large Australian discount department store, was fined approximately $3 million dollars by an Australian court for violating Australia’s federal product safety laws for the fifth time.

While the headquarters location of a federal agency may not seem highly newsworthy, a recent report that the CPSC has signed a new 10-year lease to remain at its current location in Bethesda, Maryland is very welcome news to many people both inside and outside the agency.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has held that the prohibition against requesting or requiring personal identification information in connection with credit card transactions contained in California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act extends to consumer email addresses.

As this blog has reported on numerous occasions, plaintiffs have brought claims challenging labeling of food products for mislabeling.  The labels challenged include the use of the term “natural”, “0g trans fat” and the infamous claim of misbranding relating to “crunch berries.”