Committee Chair McMorris Rodgers On Budget Allocation: It’s Important Bipartisan Legislation
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) delivered the following opening remarks at a recent hearing titled “The Fiscal Year 2025 Consumer Product Safety Commission Budget.”
Advocacy: National Association Of Manufacturers (NAM) Calls For Oversight On The CPSC
July 25, 2024, NAM Newsroom
Manufacturers have long been partners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission—working with the agency to keep the public informed and protected—but a lack of transparency at the CPSC in the past few years has stymied businesses’ attempts “to understand how [they] will be regulated,” the NAM told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce. NAM has regularly called for congressional oversight of the CPSC in recent years. Ahead of the “Fiscal Year 2025 Consumer Product Safety Commission Budget” subcommittee hearing, NAM highlighted several areas of concern for legislators to address.
6 Ways To Bring Strategy Into Your Work Every Day
July 12, 2024, Harvard Business Review
Business leaders are expected to be strategic, and while organizational obstacles can prevent you from translating intent into strategic actions, so can your personal limitations and practices. It doesn’t have to be this way. Small decisions about where to focus and what to do throughout your day may feel inconsequential, but their impacts accumulate. Master those small decisions and before you know it, you’ll overcome the obstacles as you pursue your strategy with greater clarity, determination, and ultimately success. The author presents six ways to incorporate strategy into your daily practices.
Authorities Go For Gold On Fake Fashion Enforcement As Paris Olympics Begin
July 26, 2024, Retail & Consumer Product Law Observer
France is ramping up its enforcement efforts against counterfeit fashion as the 2024 Paris Olympics open. The French government has placed notices at its airports, warning consumers of the significant penalties they may face from buying and wearing counterfeit clothing and accessories. It has also conducted raids on vendors selling counterfeit items. In a January 2024 report, the European Union Intellectual Property Office estimated that genuine fashion companies in the European Union lost an average of almost 12 billion euros annually from 2018 to 2021.
U.S. Injuries From Electric Bikes, Scooters Are Soaring
July 23, 2024, HeallthDay
More and more Americans who use “micromobility” transport, such as electric bikes and e-scooters, are motoring their way straight into the ER, new data shows. In fact, the rate of e-bike injuries among Americans doubled each year between 2017 and 2022, reported a team led by Dr. Adrian Fernandez of the University of California, San Francisco. This steep rise in accidents “underscores an urgent need for added safety measures,” Fernandez said in a UCSF news release. His team published its findings July 23 in the journal JAMA Network Open. Fernandez and colleagues used data from Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for 2017 through 2022.
Australian Government Backs New Infant Product Safety Standards
July 24, 2024, Mirage News
Prime Minster Albanese’s Government has implemented the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) recommendation to make new mandatory safety and information standards for infant sleep products. The ACCC estimates that parents tragically lose ten babies every year due to unsafe sleeping and inclined non‑sleep products in Australia. The Government’s new mandatory standards will aim to reduce the risk of death and injury to young children. This announcement follows extensive consultation with industry groups, state and territory governments, consumer groups, and safety experts.
Can Safety Professionals Learn From An Analysis Of Boeing’s Safety Culture?
July 25, 2024, shponline.co.uk
Boeing has been in the spotlight over the safety record of its Boeing 737 Max aircraft since 189 passengers and crew died in a Lion Air flight, Just six months later, an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crashed killing 157 people. Both incidents involved anti-stall software that could override pilots and force the aircraft downwards. All Boeing Max aircraft were grounded for 20 months while safety enhancements were made. Since then, Boeing’s safety culture has been receiving a great deal of scrutiny, principally from the Federal Aviation Administration. In March 2023 an expert panel convened to assess Boeing’s safety standards under the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act. In February 2024, the FAA released the expert panel’s report. It found a “disconnect” between Boeing’s senior management and other members of the organization on safety culture. Interviewees also questioned whether the company’s safety reporting systems functioned “in a way that ensures open communication and non-retaliation”. The panel also found inadequate and confusing implementation of the five components of a positive safety culture (reporting culture, just culture, flexible culture, learning culture and informed culture).
CPSC: Stop Using Zonli Home Baby Loungers Due To Suffocation, Fall And Entrapment Hazards; Violations Of Federal Safety Regulations For Infant Sleep Products; No Recall Or Remedy
July 25, 2024, cpsc.gov
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning consumers to immediately stop using and dispose of ZonLi Home Baby Loungers because they pose suffocation, fall and entrapment hazards for infants. The baby loungers violate federal safety regulations for Infant Sleep Products because the sides are too low to contain the infant; the sleeping pad is too thick, posing a suffocation hazard; an infant could fall out of an enclosed opening at the foot of the lounger or become entrapped; and the loungers do not have a stand, posing a fall hazard if used on elevated surfaces. These violations create an unsafe sleeping environment for infants. CPSC issued a Notice of Violation to a seller of the ZonLi Home Baby Lounger of China, doing business as Sarah-Home and Kuang JinLong. The firm has not agreed to recall these loungers or offer a remedy.
Online Sellers Already Pulling Out Of Northern Ireland Market Over New EU Regulations Coming Later This Year
July 26, 2024, News Letter
The partitioning of United Kingdom’s internal market under the Windsor Framework looks set to throw up a new set of problems for Northern Ireland consumers before the end of the year. This, as new EU product safety rules come into force here but not in Great Britain.
Customers Asked To Destroy Recalled Toy Guns Sold On Temu
July 26, 2024, KSNT
The Federal health officials are urging people who bought a type of toy gun off Temu.com to take action immediately. The Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a recall for Victor Electric Folding Soft Bullet Toy Guns. The toys are being recalled as they fail to meet federal safety standards such as lacking a blaze orange tip which is a mandatory requirement to help people tell the difference between toy guns and real guns. The toy guns also pose an eye injury hazard to children.
Important Product Safety Regulation Changes On The Horizon For Businesses In The UK
July 23, 2024, JD Supra
The new UK Government has unveiled the Product Safety and Metrology Bill, a critical piece of legislation that will affect all businesses involved in manufacturing, importing, and selling products in the UK. Announced as part of the King’s Speech on 18 July 2024, this legislation will seek to protect UK consumers as technology rapidly advances while also supporting business, to help deliver on the new Government’s growth agenda. With a raft of new consumer protection legislation being implemented in the EU, the Bill will provide the UK with the mechanism to align or diverge, depending on what is considered best for UK consumers and businesses.
