Will The CPSC Provide Guidance For Compliance Programs?

As the February 4th commenting deadline for CPSC's voluntary remedial actions rulemaking approaches, many companies and trade associations are pondering not only the wisdom of CPSC's insertion of compliance programs into voluntary recall negotiations, but also how those compliance programs might evolve and take shape moving forward. To date, the agency has listed a few circumstances where it may seek to impose a compliance program, some of the specific provisions that may be included in an agreement to establish a program, and how such an agreement would be enforced by the agency.

Given the Commission's unambiguously stated intent to use compliance programs as an enforcement mechanism in civil penalty and recall negotiations, one common question we have heard is whether any additional guidance or information beyond what is written in the proposed voluntary remedial actions rule might also be forthcoming from the CPSC. Although the agency has not provided any formal