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The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a decision and order against Amazon, claiming that the company was a “distributor” of products that are either defective or fail to meet federal safety standards.
The e-commerce giant is now legally responsible for recalling over 400,000 products that failed to meet safety standards, including children’s clothing that violates federal flammability standards, defective carbon monoxide detectors, and hairdryers without electrocution protection.
According to the agency’s announcement, these products pose a “substantial product hazard” under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). Also, Amazon failed to notify the “public about these hazardous products and did not take adequate steps to encourage its customers to return or destroy them, leaving consumers at substantial risk of injury”.
Under the CPSA, once the commission hears evidence from the parties and determines that a product presents a substantial product hazard, it may require a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer to warn customers and provide mitigations to remove sold products from the market and consumers.
Amazon’s defence before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and the Commission was that it’s not a distributor of the products and hence bears no responsibility for the safety of the products sold under its Fulfilled by Amazon program. However, that didn’t do much as the ALJ’s ruling not only found Amazon to be acting as a distributor but also rejected the company’s claim that sending messages to initial purchasers about the “potential” safety issues and providing them with Amazon credits was sufficient to mitigate the product hazards.
The company now also has to propose plans to notify consumers and the public about the dangerous products and remove them from consumers’ hands by incentivising their return or destruction. Once the plans are laid out, the commission will consider them and issue a second order on notification and remedies.
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