Consumer Safety Agency to Post Inspectors at Biggest Ports

(GovExec.com)

The federal agency that polices children’s toys and other consumer goods will permanently station employees at the nation’s largest ports for the first time in response to congressional and public outcry over recalls. Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord said she is coordinating an effort to focus CPSC employees on suspect shipments and high-risk products. ‘We will be starting at the busiest ports, the ports where the most products come in. That’s Long Beach, that’s Seattle, there are a number of other ones,’ Nord said. Staffing for the permanent port presence is undetermined since CPSC received a $17 million budget bump when Congress approved $80 million for the agency last month.

CPSC staff at ports will not be authorized to turn away dangerous cargo, but it can advise U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials who have the power to deny unsafe products entry into the country. CPSC employees are posted near ports and sometimes conduct inspections, but they also are assigned other duties. The permanent port staff will have access to information on recalls and high-risk products through a tracking system CPSC is developing, Nord said.

The House passed a consumer product safety bill before recess. Nord praised the bipartisan bill that requires third-party certification of children’s toys, reduces the allowable lead level in toys and implements a tracking system to aid store-owners during recalls, but she is not as amenable to a more stringent Senate bill crafted by Democrats. Read the full story.