Retail & Consumer Products

Mintz Levin’s Consumer Product Safety practice is honored to welcome Commissioner Robert Adler as a guest speaker in an upcoming webinar to discuss the trajectory of CPSC enforcement trends and proactive steps your company can take to prevent becoming the subject of CPSC enforcement actions.

Last week, CPSC staff proposed an amendment to the agency's current voluntary standards rule that would allow Commission employees to participate as voting members and to accept leadership positions in voluntary standard development groups.

A question before district courts these days seems to be whether 100% natural molasses move any slower than the FDA.

Two weeks ago, this space discussed the CA Prop 65 reform proposed by Governor Brown and its remote chances of success. 

CPSC’s longtime Deputy Director of Compliance & Field Operations, Marc Schoem, is now leading the agency’s Office of Education, Global Outreach, and Small Business Ombudsman.

he role of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in product liability cases is often a two-sided coin.  Evidence of a recall is sometimes allowed to establish notice of a defect though the standard to invoke a recall of a product is not the same as proving a design, manufacturing or failure to warn claim in a court of law.

The FTC’s recent settlements with three mattress companies send a message to all companies making “VOC Free” (volatile organic compounds) and similar environmental or “green” claims.

It would no doubt be helpful to present a jury with information of how plaintiff was driving too fast in choppy water before being thrown from a boat or how the plaintiff allowed lint to collect in the exhaust duct before a fire in the dryer caused property damage.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced recently that it stopped 4.8 million units of products at multiple ports of entry that violated product safety rules or were deemed to be hazardous. 

California has a reputation for many things: 8th largest economy in the World; land of fruits and nuts and a state not being overly business friendly. 

On August 5, 2013 the FDA issued its final rule on the voluntary labeling of food gluten-free. This is good news for both consumers and manufacturers.

When you board a ride at an amusement park, the question of who regulates the ride vs. the toy you just won is probably the last thing on your mind.

Contract clauses impacting risk assumption and risk transfer which are integral to the capturing of recall costs are often relegated to the “boiler plate” section of many Supply Agreements or are preprinted on the reverse side of POs that are often not sent by PDF or fax.

Starting in 2012, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) teamed up with football helmet manufacturers, the National Football League (NFL), and others to eliminate the use of outdated football helmets and teach safer game play among youth football players.

In what may be an indication of things to come, the Food Court (US District Court Northern District of California)  has decided to ask FDA for guidance on what it wants on food labels.

Some are concerned that the potential health consequence of the use of genetically modified organisms in food is unknown because of the lack of long-term testing proving that it is safe. 

On June 27th, the U.S. Senate confirmed Marietta Robinson and Ann Marie Buerkle as new CPSC Commissioners. Robinson was first nominated in 2012 and participated in a hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on May 10, 2012. Buerkle was nominated in late May of this year and confirmed by the Senate one month later without having a Senate hearing.

It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon, you need a snack – maybe a granola bar, but which one? Does the package that boasts it is “100% Natural” win out over the one that is only “All Natural”? 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) recently proposed to substantially alter its 2008 regulation governing the form and contents of certificates of compliance for consumer products.