Port Surveillance News: More than 4.8M Units of Violative Imported Products Kept at Bay During Fiscal Year 2012

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ended fiscal year 2012 having stopped a total of about 4.8 million units of products that violated U.S. safety rules or were found to be hazardous during the fiscal year, which spanned October 2011 to September 2012.

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Working with its federal partner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), CPSC screened more than 18,000 different imported consumer products during the fiscal year. About 1,500 of those products were found to be violative and prevented from moving into the U.S. stream of commerce.

CPSC investigators and CBP officers closed out the fiscal year with fourth quarter efforts on pace with those of the third quarter.  In the fourth quarter 2012, the agencies screened about 5,900 products and identified about 410 of the screened products as being noncompliant with CPSC's safety rules. In the third quarter, about 5,700 products were screened and about 420 were identified as violative.

The number of units stopped in the final quarter of the fiscal year was about 910,000, down from a high of about 2.8 million in the third quarter, but more than double the approximately 368,000 stopped in the second quarter. The high numbers of units stopped in the third quarter are attributed to shipments of fireworks imported for the Memorial Day and Independence Day holidays.

As in the previous fiscal quarters, children's products with lead levels exceeding federal limits continued to make up the bulk of products stopped in the fourth quarter of 2012.  Toys and other articles with small parts that present a choking hazard for children younger than 3 years old and toys and child care articles with phthalate levels in excess of federal limits were also product categories with a high number of seizures.

CPSC has been screening products at ports since the agency began operating in 1973. The agency intensified its efforts in 2008 with the creation of an import surveillance division and again in 2011 with the creation of the Office of Import Surveillance.

To view the Import Stoppage Report and the table of Violative Products Seized at the Port during 4^th Quarter, FY 2012 go to CPSC.gov and choose the Business and Manufacturing tab, then click on Import Safety and see Port Surveillance News.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.  Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals – contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @OnSafety or by subscribing to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.

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SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission