Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Act | DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog

Posted by: Salvatore J. Zambri, founding partner

As a result of the tragic death of a child using a donated crib in a day care center, a portion of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was named in his honor.  The Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act includes four specific new requirements intended to protect young children:

• “Requires the CPSC to assess the effectiveness of any voluntary consumer product safety standards for durable infant or toddler product s and promulgate consumer product safety standards that are substantially the same or more stringent than the voluntary standards.
• Makes it a violation of the CPSA for certain commercial entities (including, but not limited to manufacturers, distributors, hotels, motels, or similar transient lodging facilities and day care centers) to manufacture, sell, lease, or otherwise place in the stream of commerce any crib that is not in compliance with such standard.
• Requires each manufacturer of a durable product for infants or toddlers under five years to provide consumers with a postage-paid consumer registration form, maintain a record of consumer contact information to improve recall effectiveness, and permanently label the product with the manufacturer’s name and contact information, model name and number, and the manufacturing date.
• Requires the CPSC to study and report to specified congressional committees regarding: (1) consumer registration form effectiveness in facilitating recalls and whether such forms should be required for other children’s products; and (2) recall notification technology. Allows the CPSC to authorize the use of recall notification technology in lieu of registration forms when the technology becomes at least as effective as the forms.”

On June 28, 2010, a joint announcement was made by the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Kids in Danger, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and National Research Center for Women and Families that, “As of today, many durable infant and toddler products, including cribs, playyards, strollers and high chairs are required to contain a product registration card allowing consumers to easily register their product with the manufacturer. This will give manufacturers crucial information necessary to directly contact consumers in the event of a recall or other product safety issue.”

Requiring product registration cards for children’s durable goods follows the successful model implemented by the NHTSA for child safety seats. According to the senior director of Product Safety & Technical Policy at Consumers Union,  “Because of this requirement, the recall response rate for child safety seats is far greater than for all other durable infant and toddler products.”

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About the author:

Mr. Zambri is a board-certified civil trial attorney by the National Board of Trial Advocates and a Past-President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. He has been rated by Washingtonian magazine as a “Big Gun” and among the “top 1%” of all lawyers in the Washington metropolitan area. The magazine also describes him as “one of Washington’s best–most honest and effective lawyers” who specializes in personal injury matters, including premises liability, product liability, medical malpractice, and automobile accident claims. Mr. Zambri has also been named a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyer magazine (March/April 2010)–a national publication that honors the top lawyers in America.

If you have any questions about your legal rights, please email Mr. Zambri at [email protected] or call him at 202-822-1899.