Pre-Recorded Remarks

Hello! I’m Alex Hoehn-Saric, the Chair of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.  I am sorry I couldn’t be there in person, but I’m pleased to join you by video. 

The ICPHSO International Symposium is an important gathering of consumer product safety stakeholders where we have the opportunity to share advances in product safety and changes in the regulatory landscape.  

International cooperation in consumer safety has grown in importance and awareness over the past decade.  I’ve recently returned from the first ever Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development or “OECD” Consumer Policy Ministerial Meeting. 

The Ministerial Meeting was an opportunity for OECD member countries, international organizations, businesses, and members of civil society to gather and discuss consumer policy, including consumer product safety.  There was robust conversation on consumer product safety because of the potentially devastating health impacts and financial consequences that unsafe products can inflict on all our economies. 

As more and more companies employ a digital business model to ship products directly to consumers from around the world, we’re seeing less and less accountability around product safety.  That puts us all at risk.  And while this digital business model provides convenience to the customer, without sufficient accountability through the supply chain, unsafe products are making their way into consumers’ homes every day.

During the OECD ministerial, I discussed how – for every product hazard that CPSC has addressed with a new regulation or recall – you can still find that illegal product online.  Whether it’s through a third-party seller on a website like Amazon, Temu, or AliExpress or your next-door neighbor on a site like Facebook Marketplace or Ebay, recalled, violative, and dangerous products remain available to consumers every day.

I’ve been meeting with many of my counterparts from other countries and it is clear we are all are struggling with the same issues.  It is harder to identify recalled, violative, or dangerous products sold online.  It is harder to then work with the sellers or distributors to get those products out of consumers’ hands, and it is harder to punish bad actors who continue to sell unsafe products through online marketplaces. 

These difficulties stem from a variety of factors, but in the United States, our consumer product safety laws must be strengthened to address these challenges.  We do not have the same lines of communication with small global sellers online as we do with large retailers that have a brick-and-mortar presence. 

It is also incumbent on online marketplaces to do more to protect consumers, even when there are grey areas in legal requirements.  To serve their customers these firms should act responsibly, monitor their websites, stop dangerous products from being posted in the first place, and remove the merchants who sell those products.  They have the reach and resources to do so. 

CPSC will continue to take action to protect consumers where online marketplaces fail to meet their obligations under the law.  Recently, the Commission found that Amazon acted as a distributor with respect to certain imported product sold on its site.  And our E-Safe team has requested the removal of more than 53,000 recalled or violative products from online marketplaces just last year. 

CPSC staff also proposed a final rule requiring importers of consumer products to file Certificates of Compliance electronically with CPSC when they enter the United States.  This is called “E-Filing.”  Companies must certify that their products meet applicable testing and safety requirements upon entry.  Should this rule be finalized, it will strengthen CPSC’s ability to target and block unsafe products from entering the United States.

In developing the E-Filing rule, CPSC consulted with United States Customs and Border Protection because ensuring consumer safety is not just the job of the CPSC.  In the United States, we take a whole of government approach to this problem.  That is why I was heartened that OECD made consumer product safety a priority.  

It will not be governments alone that solve the problem of unsafe products online.  It will take international cooperation among all stakeholders to strengthen consumer product safety frameworks worldwide and to prevent the manufacture and trade in products that can harm consumers. 

Gatherings, like ICPHSO’s International Symposium, have a critical role in fostering discussions and encouraging change to improve product safety practices across the globe. To that end, I hope you have a successful conference.  Thank you again for your time and for your dedication and focus on improving consumer product safety.

The views expressed in these remarks are solely the views of Chair Hoehn-Saric and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission.