U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric spoke with CTA Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs Rachel Nemeth during CES 2024 about the challenges of extending safety to products that are constantly evolving and incorporating new technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. Nemeth pointed out that the agency’s authorizing statute was enacted in 1972 and was last amended in 2008. “We’re doing a lot of good work with the statute we have,” Hoehn-Saric responded. “But we’re changing the way we operate. We talk a lot about machine learning and AI.”

He noted that, “CPSC is a relatively small agency [that] deals with all the consumer products in your home.” In his remarks at the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization’s 2023 International Symposium, he revealed that CPSC “conducted more than 300 recalls” and “assessed more than $52 million in civil penalties from companies that failed to comply with our safety laws.”

In addition to product recalls, he said at CES, the CPSC also “tracks the marketplace, does research and works with voluntary and mandatory standards agencies and consumers.” He notes that machine learning and AI now “enters the home in a variety of ways.”

“We also want to know what substances are going into the product itself,” he added. “We have traditionally looked at substances like lead, but we’re now looking at things that could be chronic hazards, although we’re not really set up to do that.”

He focused on the perils of e-commerce. “Every day, unknowingly, consumers are purchasing recalled, non-compliant, and hazardous products that are sold online,” he said at the Symposium. At CES, Hoehn-Saric said the agency follows its social media and SaferProducts.gov site to hear what consumers are saying; a recent complaint pointed to replacement batteries for a vacuum cleaner that resulted in three home fires.

“I tweeted it out and got a lot of comments from other consumers who had the same problem,” he said. “In that case we didn’t have an issue with the manufacturer — it was the replacement batteries that shouldn’t have been used.” In addition to company-specific e-commerce platforms, there are now “huge marketplaces with third-party providers” to consider.

“We want all the platforms to have an internal culture of safety,” he noted. “We want to make sure there is accountability for third-party sellers; it’s hard for us to get to overseas companies that often fail to respond. And we want to give consumers information to shop in a smart and safe way.”

The bottom line, he concluded, is “we want to make buying online as safe as buying at the corner store.”

“That’s my main issue going forward,” he said.