[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 108 (Thursday, August 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7909-S7911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU:
  S. 2843. A bill to direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to 
promulgate a rule that requires manufacturers of certain consumer 
products to establish and maintain a system for providing notification 
of recalls of such products to consumers who first purchase such a 
product; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, it is my pleasure to come to the floor 
today and introduce a bill that I believe will make it easier for 
parents to learn about dangerous products that may harm their children, 
and remove these products from their homes.
  Every year, more than 1.7 million children under the age of 5 are 
harmed by defective or hazardous products. As my colleagues know, each 
year the Consumer Products Safety Commission recalls hundreds of 
products which have been found to pose a danger to consumers. 
Unfortunately, many times parents do not get the word about these 
recalls, because companies often do not have a way of getting in touch 
with their customers. This is particularly significant when you are 
talking about children's products. The manufacturers of these products 
rarely have records of who their customers are; often all they can do 
is publicize the recall as best they can. It is for this reason, that I 
am introducing the Product Safety Notification and Recall Effectiveness 
Act of 2002.
  This legislation would require the Consumer Products Safety 
Commission to establish a rule to require manufacturers to establish 
and maintain a system for notifying consumers of the recall of certain 
products that may cause harm to children. The database could be 
assembled through the use of shortened product registration cards, 
Internet registration, or other alternate means of encouraging 
consumers to provide vital contact information.
  As an example for my colleagues, I just want to touch on one method 
that this bill would encourage companies to use. We've all seen the 
registration cards that come with many products. It is these cards that 
provide companies with much of the information on their customers, and 
could be used to help spread the word about a recall. Unfortunately, 
many consumers just throw these cards away without even sending them 
in. In fact, by some estimates 90 percent of these cards are thrown 
away. Why? Well, one reason is because the cards ask for personal and 
marketing information that many people do not want to give out. So they 
throw the card away.
  But if you shorten the card, to just ask for the basic information, 
name, address, and phone number, people are much more likely to return 
them. This is particularly true if the card specifies the information 
will not be used for marketing purposes. These cards are an idea that 
Ann Brown, former chairman of the CPSC and now Chairman of the non-
profit group SAFE, a Safer America for Everyone Foundation, has been 
advocating for years. And studies done with companies like Mattel and 
BrandStamp have shown that these methods really do increase the number 
of consumers who respond.
  So, I come to the floor today to say that this is something we need 
to do, and we need to do it as quickly as possible. This is a very 
important bill for our citizens. I am hopeful that we can get a hearing 
on this legislation very soon.
  Before I close, I just want to commend Ann Brown and the folks at 
SAFE for all of their hard work on product recall. I introduced this 
legislation in the Senate today, but Ann is the one who has been 
pushing this issue for years, since she served on the CPSC. I am proud 
to work with her on this and want to thank her for her monumental 
efforts to bring this to the forefront. I also want to acknowledge my 
colleagues, Congressman Jim Moran and Congressman James McGovern, who 
introduced this bill in the House of Representatives. And, of course, I 
look forward to working with the CPSC on this bill. I know they had 
some problems with this bill initially, and I am hopeful we have 
addressed most of these concerns.
  I want to encourage my colleagues to support this much-needed 
legislation. By passing this bill, we can give parents the information 
they need to protect their children. When a child is hurt or killed by 
a defective product that has already been recalled, there simply is no 
excuse. This legislation would go a long way towards ensuring that this 
kind of tragedy never happens again.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2843

       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 ``Product Safety Notification 
     and Recall Effectiveness Act of 2002''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Consumer Product Safety Commission conducts 
     approximately 300 recalls of hazardous, dangerous, and 
     defective consumer products each year.
       (2) In developing comprehensive corrective action plans 
     with recalling companies, the

[[Page S7911]]

     Consumer Product Safety Commission staff greatly relies upon 
     the media and retailers to alert consumers to the dangers of 
     unsafe consumer products, because the manufacturers do not 
     generally possess contact information regarding the 
     purchasing consumers. Based upon information received from 
     companies maintaining customer registration lists, such 
     contact information is known for generally less than 7 
     percent of the total consumer products produced and 
     distributed.
       (3) The Consumer Product Safety Commission staff has found 
     that most consumers do not return purchaser identification 
     cards because of requests for marketing and personal 
     information on the cards, and the likelihood of receiving 
     unsolicited marketing materials.
       (4) The Consumer Product Safety Commission staff has 
     conducted research demonstrating that direct consumer contact 
     is one of the most effective ways of motivating consumer 
     response to a consumer product recall.
       (5) Companies that maintain consumer product purchase data, 
     such as product registration cards, warranty cards, and 
     rebate cards, are able to effectively notify consumers of a 
     consumer product recall.
       (6) The Consumer Product Safety Commission staff has found 
     that a consumer product safety owner card, without marketing 
     questions or requests for personal information, that 
     accompanied products such as small household appliances and 
     juvenile products would increase consumer participation and 
     information necessary for direct notification in consumer 
     product recalls.
       (7) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has, 
     since March 1993, required similar simplified, marketing-free 
     product registration cards on child safety seats used in 
     motor vehicles.
       (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to reduce the 
     number of deaths and injuries from defective and hazardous 
     consumer products through improved recall effectiveness, by--
       (1) requiring the Consumer Product Safety Commission to 
     promulgate a rule to require manufacturers of juvenile 
     products, small household appliances, and certain other 
     consumer products, to include a simplified product safety 
     owner card with those consumer products at the time of 
     original purchase by consumers, or develop effective 
     electronic registration of the first purchasers of such 
     products, to develop a customer database for the purpose of 
     notifying consumers about recalls of those products; and
       (2) encouraging manufacturers, private labelers, retailers, 
     and others to use creativity and innovation to create and 
     maintain effective methods of notifying consumers in the 
     event of a consumer product recall.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       For purposes of this Act:
       (1) Terms defined in consumer product safety act.--The 
     definitions set forth in section 3 of the Consumer Product 
     Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2052) shall apply to this Act.
       (2) Covered consumer product.--The term ``covered consumer 
     product'' means--
       (A) a juvenile product;
       (B) a small household appliance; and
       (C) such other consumer product as the Commission considers 
     appropriate for achieving the purpose of this Act.
       (3) Juvenile product.--The term ``juvenile product''--
       (A) means a consumer 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) playpens;
       (vii) stationary activity centers;
       (viii) strollers;
       (ix) walkers;
       (x) swings;
       (xi) child carriers; and
       (xii) bassinets and cradles.
       (4) Product safety owner card.--The term ``product safety 
     owner card'' means a standardized product identification card 
     supplied with a consumer product by the manufacturer of the 
     product, at the time of original purchase by the first 
     purchaser of such product for purposes other than resale, 
     that only requests that the consumer of such product provide 
     to the manufacturer a minimal level of personal information 
     needed to enable the manufacturer to contact the consumer in 
     the event of a recall of the product.
       (5) Small household appliance.--The term ``small household 
     appliance'' means a consumer product that is a toaster, 
     toaster oven, blender, food processor, coffee maker, or other 
     similar small appliance as provided for in the rule 
     promulgated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

     SEC. 4. RULE REQUIRING SYSTEM TO PROVIDE NOTICE OF RECALLS OF 
                   CERTAIN CONSUMER PRODUCTS.

       (a) In General.--The Commission shall promulgate a rule 
     under section 16(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 
     U.S.C. 2065(b)) that requires that the manufacturer of a 
     covered consumer product shall establish and maintain a 
     system for providing notification of recalls of such product 
     to consumers of such product.
       (b) Requirement To Create Database.--
       (1) In general.--The rule shall require that the system 
     include use of product safety owner cards, Internet 
     registration, or an alternative method, to create a database 
     of information regarding consumers of covered consumer 
     products, for the sole purpose of notifying such consumers of 
     recalls of such products.
       (2) Use of technology.--Alternative methods specified in 
     the rule may include use of on-line product registration and 
     consumer notification, consumer information data bases, 
     electronic tagging and bar codes, embedded computer chips in 
     consumer products, or other electronic and design strategies 
     to notify consumers about product recalls, that the 
     Commission determines will increase the effectiveness of 
     recalls of covered consumer products.
       (c) Use of Commission Staff Proposal.--In promulgating the 
     rule, the Commission shall consider the staff draft for an 
     Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking entitled ``Purchaser 
     Owner Card Program'', dated June 19, 2001.
       (d) Exclusion of Low-Price Items.--The Commission shall 
     have the authority to exclude certain low-cost items from the 
     rule for good cause.
       (e) Deadlines.--
       (1) In general.--The Commission--
       (A) shall issue a proposed rule under this section by not 
     later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act; 
     and
       (B) shall promulgate a final rule under this section by not 
     later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
       (2) Extension.--The Commission may extend the deadline 
     described in paragraph (1) if the Commission provides timely 
     notice to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 
     of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
     and Transportation of the Senate.
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