[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6141 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6141

  To direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require certain 
    manufacturers to provide consumer product registration forms to 
       facilitate recalls of durable infant and toddler products.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 21, 2006

Ms. Schakowsky introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require certain 
    manufacturers to provide consumer product registration forms to 
       facilitate recalls of durable infant and toddler products.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Child Product Safety Notification 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death 
        among children, and for every such injury that is fatal, 
        approximately 18 children are hospitalized and 1,250 are 
        treated by emergency departments for such injuries that are 
        nonfatal.
            (2) According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an 
        average of 50 children under the age of 5 die each year in 
        incidents associated with nursery products, and about 16 of 
        these deaths each year are associated with cribs.
            (3) In 2003, an estimated 60,700 children under the age of 
        5 were treated in United States hospital emergency rooms for 
        injuries associated with nursery products, and there were 
        10,700 injuries to children under the age of 5 years associated 
        with strollers alone.
            (4) Of the 397 recalls issued by the Consumer Product 
        Safety Commission in fiscal year 2005, 109 (or 28 percent) were 
        children's products. Children's products were recalled, on 
        average, over 2 times per week, and accounted for 19,635,627 
        individual units.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Consumer 
        Product Safety Commission.
            (2) Durable infant or toddler product.--The term ``durable 
        infant or toddler product''--
                    (A) means a durable product intended for use, or 
                that may be reasonably expected to be used, by children 
                under the age of 5 years; and
                    (B) includes--
                            (i) full-size cribs and nonfull-size cribs;
                            (ii) toddler beds;
                            (iii) high chairs, booster chairs, and 
                        hook-on chairs;
                            (iv) bath seats;
                            (v) gates and other enclosures for 
                        confining a child;
                            (vi) play yards;
                            (vii) stationary activity centers;
                            (viii) child carriers;
                            (ix) strollers;
                            (x) walkers;
                            (xi) swings;
                            (xii) bassinets and cradles; and
                            (xiii) children's folding chairs.

SEC. 4. CONSUMER PRODUCT REGISTRATION FORMS.

    (a) Rulemaking.--Not later than 270 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall, pursuant to its authority 
under section 16(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 
2065(b)), promulgate a final consumer product safety standard under 
section 7 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2056) to require manufacturers of 
durable infant or toddler products--
            (1) to provide consumers with a postage-paid consumer 
        registration form with each such product;
            (2) to maintain a record of the names, addresses, email 
        addresses, and other contact information of consumers who 
        register their ownership of such products with the manufacturer 
        in order to improve the effectiveness of manufacturer campaigns 
        to recall such products; and
            (3) to permanently place the manufacturer name and contact 
        information, model name and number, and the date of manufacture 
        on each durable infant or toddler product.
    (b) Requirements for Registration Form.--The registration form 
required to be provided to consumers under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) include spaces for a consumer to provide their name, 
        address, telephone number, and email address;
            (2) include space sufficiently large to permit easy, 
        legible recording of all desired information;
            (3) be attached to the surface of each durable infant or 
        toddler product so that, as a practical matter, the consumer 
        must notice and handle the form after purchasing the product;
            (4) include the manufacturer's name, model name and number 
        for the product, and the date of manufacture;
            (5) include a message explaining the purpose of the 
        registration and designed to encourage consumers to complete 
        the registration;
            (6) include an option for consumers to register through the 
        Internet; and
            (7) a statement that information provided by the consumer 
        shall not be used for any purpose other than to facilitate a 
        recall of or safety alert regarding that product.
In issuing regulations under this section, the Commission may prescribe 
the exact text and format of the required registration form.
    (c) Record Keeping and Notification Requirements.--The standard 
required under this section shall require each manufacturer of a 
durable infant or toddler product to maintain a record of registrants 
for each product manufactured that includes all of the information 
provided by each consumer registered, and to use such information to 
notify such consumers in the event of a voluntary or involuntary recall 
of or safety alert regarding such product. Each manufacturer shall 
maintain such a record for a period of not less than 6 years after the 
date of manufacture of the product. Consumer information collected by a 
manufacturer under this Act may not be used by the manufacturer, nor 
disseminated by such manufacturer to any other party, for any purpose 
other than notification to such consumer in the event of a product 
recall or safety alert.
    (d) Study.--The Commission shall conduct a study at such time as it 
considers appropriate on the effectiveness of the consumer registration 
forms in facilitating product recalls. Upon the conclusion of such 
study, the Commission shall report its findings to Congress.
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