CPSC Approves Proposed Rule on Public Database, Posts Staff Responses
On April 15, 2010, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 3-2 to issue, with changes from the draft version, a proposed rule on a publicly available consumer product safety database, as required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).
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CPSC has also posted staff responses to questions previously posed by Commissioner Nord regarding the database.
(The database would include public reports of harm as well as manufacturer (includes importer) or private labeler comments on the reports. It would also include information derived by CPSC from mandatory or voluntary recall notices and any additional information that CPSC believes is in the public interest. See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/06/10 news, (Ref: 10040620), for BP summary of the database draft proposed rule.)
Webcast Has Been Posted
The recorded Webcast of the April 15 meeting in which the Commission approved publication of the public database proposed rule and also discussed draft proposed rules on component testing and the “15 Month Rule” is now available. CPSC sources note that due to technical difficulties, the Webcast was not posted until recently.
Staff Responses to Database Questions
The following are highlights of the staff responses to Commissioner Nord’s questions on certain aspects of the database:
Database Would Alert Users if Any “Substantial Inaccuracy” Allegations
CPSC staff members explain that the system is already being designed so that it would display status messaging to the external public, including whether an allegation of a substantial material inaccuracy had been made.
Expedite the Review of Claims of Inaccurate Information
The staff recommends expedited review of claims of materially inaccurate information but cannot make a recommendation on a specific time limit to review such claims in advance of the rule. They note that there are many factors to be considered such as the number of claims, length and complexity of claims and, available staff resources.
Duplicate Claims Would Not be Published
The software is also already being designed to sort and select potential duplicates based on predefined criteria. Such matches would be automatically flagged for CPSC staff review. If they are determined to be duplicates (e.g., same submitter reports the same incident) they would be noted as such and not be published, although they would be retained for staff use and future reference.
Suggest Database Only Include Incidents After August 14, 2008
Staff suggests that reports submitted to the public database regarding incidents which occurred prior to August 14, 2008 (the date CPSIA was enacted) not be published in the database. However, they note that this is a policy decision for the Commission and not something covered by the CPSIA.
Working to Estimate Expected Increase in Incident Reports
CPSC received approximately 16,000 telephone and web incident reports in 2009. This number does not include reports received through other channels such as death certificates, retailer reporting, news clippings, etc.
Though members of the public have estimated that the number of reported incidents could double with the development of the database, CPSC staff state that these are unsubstantiated guesses and they are working to develop a model to quantify any potential change.
CPSC staff responses (posted 04/16/10) available at http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia10/brief/norddatabase.pdf
CPSC Webcast of April 15 meeting available at http://www.cpsc.gov/webcast/previous.html