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GAO-09-512R 1 (2009-04-22)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaanmz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: im TM WAccountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 April 22, 2009 The Honorable John D. Rockefeller, IV Chairman The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison Ranking Member Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation United States Senate The Honorable Henry A. Waxman Chairman The Honorable Joe Barton Ranking Member Committee on Energy and Commerce House of Representatives Subject: Feasibility of Requiring Financial Assurances for the Recall or Destruction of Unsafe Consumer Products In 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that it had obtained the voluntary recall of 563 unsafe or potentially unsafe products by the companies that manufactured, imported, distributed, or sold the products-the largest number for the agency in the past 10 years. In the prior year, CPSC announced 472 recalls-which was also an increase from the previous year and included some high-profile recalls of lead-tainted toys-leading some consumer groups to call 2007 the year of the recall. Consumer products can be recalled for a variety of reasons, including violations of safety standards, incidents of injuries that can occur from the design or manufacture of a product, or other conditions that present an imminent or substantial hazard to consumers. Since 1979 there have been few instances in which CPSC could not obtain cooperation from manufacturers or importers to conduct recalls, either because these companies did not have the financial resources to conduct a recall or because the companies refused to assume responsibility for a recall. This included troubled recalls involving more than 1.5 million imported cribs associated with multiple deaths of children. Another recall of imported tires, conducted under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was the responsibility of a small importer that did not have the resources to conduct an effective recall. These, and similar events, have raised concerns from consumer groups and others about the ability of businesses to conduct effective recalls and of the federal GAO-09-512R Consumer Products

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