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Breaking: CPSC Notifies Numerous Companies of Unprecedented, Unauthorized Disclosure of Information

April 11, 2019 | Blog | By Charles Samuels, Evelyn French

Recently, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) informed what could turn out to be a very large number of consumer product companies that it discovered what appears to be a mass inadvertent disclosure of nonpublic manufacturer and product specific information.
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CPSC Commissioner Elliot Kaye Issues Statement Providing a Framework of Safety for the Internet of Things

February 11, 2019 | Blog | By Charles Samuels, Evelyn French

Commissioner Elliot Kaye recently released a framework, which he co-authored with his Senior Science and Policy Advisor, Dr. Jonathan Midgett, that provides an “overview of technology-neutral best practices to ensure consumer product safety in the design and deployment of devices, software and systems used with the Internet-connected consumer products.” This framework should prove useful to consumer product companies as they navigate the burgeoning world of IoT devices.
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Unilateral Recalls: Companies Should Consider Launching Recalls Without the CPSC During the Government Shutdown

January 24, 2019 | Blog | By Charles Samuels, Evelyn French

Now in its fifth week, the partial government shutdown has left many companies wondering what to do about recalls for consumer products. Generally, consumer product companies work in coordination with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) when conducting recalls. But like other affected agencies, the CPSC is currently operating with only its essential staff members, which is about 20 or fewer employees.
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Costco Agrees to $3.85 Million Civil Penalty for Failure to Report, Accepted by Unanimous CPSC Vote

October 8, 2018 | Blog | By Charles Samuels, Evelyn French

On Friday, October 5, 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) announced that Costco Wholesale, Corp. (Costco) entered into a settlement agreement with the CPSC to pay a $3.85 million civil penalty for its alleged failure to report defective trash cans. The penalty agreement was accepted 4-0 by the Commission. Notably, this is the first multi-million dollar civil penalty in the post-CPSIA era where there was not a Democratic majority at the CPSC, indicating that penalty actions are far from moribund under the current leadership.
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Peter Feldman Confirmed as Fifth Commissioner at CPSC, Ushering in a Republican Majority for First Time Since 2006

September 25, 2018 | Blog | By Charles Samuels

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CA Prop 65 Coffee Issues Still Brewing

September 4, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

As has been widely reported, in May 2018, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Prop 65 warning labels are required to be placed on “ready-to-drink” coffee products. Acrylamide, a Prop 65 listed chemical that allegedly is a carcinogen, forms during the coffee roasting process. 
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California Supreme Court Ends Glyphosate Debate, for the Time Being

August 20, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

One week after a San Francisco jury decided against Monsanto and awarded a plaintiff $289 million due to the alleged exposure that caused his cancer, the California Supreme Court refused to hear any further challenges by Monsanto.
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Stricter Automatic Renewal Law in California Commences July 1, 2018

June 21, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

On July 1, 2018, California’s revised Automatic Renewal Law (ARL), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17600 et seq., goes into effect.
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First Amendment Still Trumps Prop 65

June 17, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

Recently, a federal judge sitting in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento), for the first time, refused to require a manufacturer to place a Prop 65 warning on its product based on a finding that the requirement would violate the company’s First Amendment rights. We have been following this developing issue for some time.
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CPSC’s Zen Magnets Mandatory Recall Reversed: A Mixed District Court Decision Gives Zen Magnets a New Life and the CPSC Favorable Precedent for Mandatory Recalls

June 14, 2018 | Blog | By Charles Samuels

The consumer product safety community is rarely provided guidance by federal court decisions. On Tuesday, however, Judge R. Brooke Jackson of the Federal District Court for the District of Colorado issued an opinion in the never-ending saga of Zen Magnets, LLC v. CPSC.
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California AG Leads Attack on Lead in Infant Formula

June 10, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

Fresh off a victory in the CA primary, California Attorney General Xavier Bacerra filed suit on June 7, 2018 against Nutraceutical Corporation of Park City, Utah and Graceleigh, Inc. dba Sammy’s Milk of Newport Beach, CA, alleging violations of California’s Proposition 65 and California’s consumer protection laws.
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Where No Misrepresentation, Ninth Circuit Does Not Require Labels Disclosing Slave Labor

June 7, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

As this space has addressed before (see here and here), the California Transparency in Supply Chain Act (Civ. Code section 1714.43), enacted in 2010, requires large retailers and manufacturers (those with worldwide sales in excess of $100 million) doing business in California to disclose on their websites.
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President Trump Nominates Peter Feldman as CPSC Commissioner Signaling First Republican Majority at Commission Since 2006

June 5, 2018 | Blog

Yesterday, President Donald Trump nominated Peter Feldman to fill the fifth and final spot as Commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
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Prop 65: GET THE LEAD OUT!

May 29, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

As this space has discussed on several occasions, there are many issues with California's Prop 65.
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Baiocco Confirmation Signals the Beginning of a New Paradigm at CPSC

May 23, 2018 | Blog | By Charles Samuels

Yesterday the U.S. Senate confirmed Dana Baiocco (pronounced “Bee Awe Co”) as a Commissioner for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission with a term that runs through October of 2024.
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Prop 65 Preliminary Injunction and "Fake News"

March 5, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

A recent Federal Court decision on the issue of whether to grant a preliminary injunction in the ongoing saga of the appropriateness of adding the pesticide Glyphosate to the CA Prop 65 list has become the grist for the "Fake News" phenomenon.
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CPSC Sues Britax over Stroller Wheel Detachments

February 19, 2018 | Blog

On Friday, February 16, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) announced that it had voted 3-1 (along party lines) to authorize CPSC staff to file an administrative complaint against Britax Child Safety, Inc., (“Britax”) a global manufacturer of car seats, strollers, and other juvenile products.
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A Federal Court Gets Opportunity to Weigh In on Prop 65 With a Little Help from Some Friends

January 11, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

Much of the recent discussion regarding Prop 65 has been focused on the regulatory changes going into effect in August of 2018. And that makes sense since there will be significant changes to the warnings, responsibility, and labeling obligations on product websites.
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President Trump Re-Nominates Ann Marie Buerkle For Permanent CPSC Chairman and Dana Baiocco as Commissioner

January 9, 2018 | Blog | By Charles Samuels

With Congress back in session, on January 8th President Trump was swift to re-nominate Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle to be the permanent Chairman of the CPSC, along with a nomination for a second term as a Commissioner.  President Trump also re-nominated Dana Baiocco to be a Commissioner.
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FDA Resets Enforcement Priorities for OTC Homeopathic Drugs

January 2, 2018 | Blog | By Joanne Hawana

Another Federal agency with a consumer-protection mandate has taken a significant step to reset compliance expectations and enforcement priorities for over-the-counter homeopathic drug products.
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