Ruling puts pressure on e-commerce to be more responsible for recalls
Amazon is responsible for the recall of hundreds of thousands of dangerous products it distributed, including providing refunds,the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a final ruling Friday.
The ruling covers more than 400,000 recalled products, including faulty carbon monoxide detectors, hairdryers without electrocution protectionand childrens sleepwear that violated federal flammability standards,the regulator said.
The CPSC orderedAmazon to provide full refunds to buyers who submitproof of destruction or disposal of the products and to notify buyers of the recalled products.
Amazon must also host the recall releases on its"Recalls and Product Safety Alerts" webpage for a minimum of five years and submit monthly progress reports for five years and records of its compliance, the CPSC said.
The order is effective on Jan. 26, the CPSC said.
Previously in July, the CPSC said that Amazon was a "distributor" of the dangerous products in question, making the company responsible for their recall.
An Amazon spokesperson told ConsumerAffairs the company is"dissappointed" and plans to appeal the decision in court.
When we were initially notified by the CPSC three years ago about potential safety issues with a small number of third-party products at the center of this lawsuit, we swiftly notified customers, instructed them to stop using the products, and refunded them," the spokesperson said. "The remedies ordered by the CPSC are largely duplicative of the steps we took several years ago to protect customers, which are the same steps we take whenever we learn about unsafe products."
Although the CPSC's decision only covers previously recalled products that were identified, it puts pressure on e-commerce platforms to take more responsibility for future recalls, Courtney Griffin, director of consumer product safety at nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, told ConsumerAffairs.
Online marketplaces need more robust systems to vet products before the products make their way into American homes, Griffin said. E-commerce giants must ensure consumers are safeguarded adequately in the rapidly expanding online marketplace."
"This case also demonstrates the critical need for improved monitoring of hazardous consumer products and a more effective recall process to remove dangerous products from the marketplace swiftly, she added.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2025-01-17 22:12:03
