‘Reese’s Purpose: When a Product Safety Concern Becomes a Product Safety Requirement’
This panel session featured a regulator, a retailer, a consumer advocate (the president and founder of Reese’s Purpose), and our very own Lissie Ng, a Cooley associate.
The panel gave us insight into what happens when a product safety hazard is addressed via a product safety requirement – a law that must be implemented and followed by industry. The relatively recent enactment of Reese’s Law (dealing with button cell/coin batteries) has done just that.
The ingestion of button cell batteries by children can lead to death or serious injury, and the panellist from Reese’s Purpose spoke movingly about the death of her daughter, Reese. Following her advocacy, Reese’s law was introduced, presenting the following requirements for consumer products containing or designed to use button cell or coin batteries:
- Battery compartments containing replaceable button cell or coin batteries must be secured such that they require the use of a tool or at least two independent and simultaneous hand movements to open.
- Button cell or coin battery compartments must not allow such batteries to be accessed or liberated as a result of use and abuse testing.
- The packaging for the overall product must bear a warning.
- The product itself must bear a warning, if practicable.
- Accompanying instructions and manuals must include all of the applicable warnings.
The panel focussed on issues faced by industry stakeholders when managing a fast-tracked implementation of product safety law. A key tension emerged – timing.
- The longer it takes to enact a new product safety law, the longer consumers (in this case, children, one of the most vulnerable consumer groups) are at risk.
- Manufacturers, retailers and testing labs, on the other hand, have to manage complex implementation procedures in a compressed time frame. Businesses want to ensure compliance, but high-quality procedures take time.
Industry stakeholders can help manage this process by:
- Keeping open lines of communication with regulators, experts and advisors, allowing companies to pivot easily as the requirements evolve through the drafting/implementation process.
- Acting early – Don’t wait until the last minute to determine whether implementation will impact your business, or you could end up facing a last-minute scramble to comply. Feedback from companies that complied with Reese’s Law noted that monitoring developments early and often led to a smoother compliance path.
- If you are uncertain on the requirements – ask for help. There is no ‘one size fits all’ in this process.
The Cooley products team will be posting highlights from other plenary panel sessions on our blog throughout the event.
Key contacts:
