CPSC Import Screening Activities Increased in Last Half of FY 2013
The Consumer Product Safety Commission screened over 14,000 import shipments in the last half of fiscal year 2013, stopping over 600 of them that contained 8.2 million units of violative product, said CPSC in its biannual Import Stoppage Report. The number of shipments is up from the 12,400 shipments screened in the first half of FY 2013, although the number of shipments stopped dropped slightly (see 13120325).
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CPSC’s screening activities were carried out using its Risk Assessment Methdology (RAM) targeting system, said the report. RAM allows CPSC investigators to analyze CBP data on shipments of consumer products arriving at U.S. ports, and then make risk-based decisions about which shipments are high-risk and should be inspected, and which shipments are low-risk and should be facilitated through the ports. CPSC is currently planning to expand the RAM pilot to ports nationwide (see 14030519).
During the last half of FY 2013, about 550 of the 600 product shipments investigators stopped were children’s products totaling about 2.1 million units. The leading hazards for children’s products continued to be lead content or lead in paint, said the report. Other hazards identified were phthalates and toys and other articles with small parts that present a choking hazard for children younger than 3 years old, said CPSC.
Fireworks made up the bulk of the non-children’s products stopped during the last half of FY 2013, said CPSC. Over 4.1 units were stopped during the period, it said. A shipment of 100,000 disposable lighters was also stopped and seized for destruction due to the importer’s failure to demonstrate that the lighters successfully met performance safety requirements, including child resistance, said the report.