More than ever before, businesses face the challenge of keeping track of a constantly evolving regulatory landscape comprising a myriad of new legislation, rules, guidance documents, interpretations, enforcement actions, and other policy changes. At the same time, they must cope with the many active state and local governments and regulatory agencies who have entered the product safety area with new requirements.
The K&L Gates’ Consumer Product Safety practice offers comprehensive safety and regulatory counselling services for consumer product businesses around the world. We assist with the development of compliance systems and also with responding to regulatory crises.
Our clientele includes importers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers throughout the world, including the United States, Europe, and Australia. We also represent trade associations and assist their membership in dealing with the various regulatory authorities. We have experience with product safety reporting and recall requirements and coordination of worldwide safety efforts with the assistance of our international offices. In addition, we assist businesses in responding to and resolving government investigations and other crises.
Our Consumer Product Safety team is composed of seasoned and dedicated lawyers from multiple practice areas across the globe, including:
Our Consumer Product Safety team collectively offer a complete and comprehensive analysis of issues clients may face when understanding and dealing with consumer product safety issues and potential product liability exposures, both on a local and international level.
With the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), Congress handed the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) new resources, authority, and regulatory weapons to better arm its arsenal.
The new law broadens the CPSC’s authority, creates new rulemaking and recall requirements, and increases civil penalties from $1.8 million to $15 million per violation. Additionally, the CPSIA made it easier to pursue criminal charges for violation of CPSC’s laws, and penalties are much more substantial.
Members of our Consumer Product Safety practice have direct government agency experience.
On behalf of our clients, we work directly with the CPSC, FDA, Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Environmental Protection Agency, and the industry advertising watchdog, the National Advertising Division, as well as courts across the United States. Our lawyers understand the way these agencies operate and know how to work with them and the investigators, prosecutors, and courts to achieve the best results for our clients. Our experience ranges across the landscape of products to products subject to the jurisdiction of the NHTSA and other federal and state regulatory agencies.