Consumer Product Safety Commission November 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) is providing notice to all of its employees, former employees, and applicants for employment about the rights and remedies that are available to them under the Federal antidiscrimination laws and whistleblower protection laws.\1\ This notice fulfills CPSC's notification obligations under the Notification and Federal Employees Anti-discrimination Retaliation Act (No FEAR Act), as implemented by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations.

On August 4, 2006, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) published a notice in accordance with provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) (PRA), to announce the agency's intention to seek approval for a collection of information obtained from persons who have been involved in or have witnessed incidents associated with consumer products. 71 FR 44262. The Commission announces that it has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for an extension of the existing approval of collections of information conducted during follow-up activities for product-related injuries. The Commission received two comments. One commentor requests that the Commission post reports of problems found with products and act on the information obtained. This comment does not weigh against extension of the current authorization. Another commentor, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), supports the proposed extension and requests the Commission staff to continue to use personal interviews as well as technological data collection to obtain pertinent information regarding product-related incidents. ATLA also requests that the Commission staff investigate a wider variety of product-related incidents. Given the large number of incidents reported involving consumer products annually, including NEISS data on hospital emergency room treated injuries, over 350,000 records per year, the Commission's resources and strategic goals guide the number of follow-up investigations that are conducted annually. Although Commission staff does not conduct follow-up investigations in every instance, staff does conduct an estimated 807 face-to-face interviews, excluding investigations conducted by the Office of Compliance and Field Operations, 2,544 in-depth investigations by phone, 4,600 hotline staff interviews, and conducts a review of 6,900 internet forms received from persons requesting information about product-related incidents or injuries. ATLA also requests that incident reports that contain identifying information be made available, in unredacted form, to counsel for both plaintiffs and defendants. The statutes administered by the Commission explicitly preclude the release of the type of identifying information sought to be obtained by ATLA. Section 6 of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2055, provides that the Commission may not disclose any information which will permit the public to ascertain the identity of a manufacturer without providing prior notification and opportunity for comment to the manufacturer to which such information pertains. In addition, section 25 of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2074, provides that any accident or investigation report made by an officer or employee of the Commission shall be made available to the public in a manner which will not identify any injured person or any person treating him, without the consent of the person so identified. Records that could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy are also exempted from production and disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b). To the extent an injured person has consented to release such information, that information would be readily available to counsel for either the plaintiff or the defendant. The information collected from persons who have sustained injuries or who have witnessed safety-related incidents associated with consumer products is an important source of safety information. The information collected is vital to the Commission in its efforts to assess the safety of consumer products and identify areas regarding consumer safety issues that may require further development and improvement through voluntary standards activities, rulemaking proceedings, recall activities, and information and education campaigns. Accordingly, the Commission has submitted the request for an extension of the existing approval of collections of information conducted during follow-up activities for product-related injuries.