Tenenbaum Confirmed as New CPSC Chair
On 19 June the Senate confirmed Inez Moore Tenenbaum as chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. According to a White House press release, Tenenbaum served as South Carolina's state superintendent of education from 1998 to 2007, and at the end of her tenure Education Week ranked South Carolina number one in the country for the quality of its academic standards, assessment and accountability systems. She previously practiced health, environmental and public interest law in the private sector. She has also served on numerous task forces that provide oversight of children and family services in South Carolina.
Tenenbaum stated at her confirmation hearing that she will strive to operate the CPSC in "an open, transparent, and collaborative way and in a manner worthy of the American people" while ensuring that "industry knows that their views will be heard and considered." She intends to make the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 her "highest priority" and pledged to regularly inform the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee about on-going progress and work with Congress to "meet statutory deadlines and avoid unnecessary delays."
The President has also nominated Robert S. Adler as a new CPSC commissioner but that nomination is still pending before the Senate. Adler is currently a professor of legal studies at the University of North Carolina and has served as the associate dean of the MBA programme there. His research and teaching focus on consumer protection, product liability, ethics, regulation and negotiation. Before joining the UNC faculty, Adler served as counsel on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he advised on CPSC legislative and oversight issues under the leadership of Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. He also spent 11 years as an attorney-advisor to two CPSC commissioners. Adler has been elected six times to the board of directors of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.
Registration Requirement for Durable Goods
The CPSC is seeking comments by 14 September on a proposed rule that would establish requirements for consumer registration of durable infant or toddler products. Section 104(d) of the CPSIA requires the CPSC to promulgate by 14 August 2009 a consumer product safety rule requiring each manufacturer of a durable infant or toddler product to (1) provide with each such product a postage-paid consumer registration form, (2) keep records of consumers who register such products with the manufacturer and (3) permanently place the manufacturer name and contact information, model name and number, and date of manufacture on each such product.
This requirement applies to certain durable products intended for use, or that may be reasonably expected to be used, by children under the age of five years, namely (1) full-size cribs and non-full-size cribs; (2) toddler beds; (3) high chairs, booster seats and hook-on chairs; (4) bath seats; (5) gates and other enclosures for confining a child; (6) play yards; (7) stationary activity centres; (8) infant carriers; (9) strollers; (10) walkers; (11) swings; and (12) bassinets and cradles. Excluded from the scope of this requirement are infant or child carriers intended for use in automobiles that are covered by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration's registration programme.
