The Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a unanimous vote that it determined the e-commerce company was a “distributor” of defective items sold on its site and packaged and shipped through its services.
“This means the company is legally responsible for recalling more than 400 products, including defective hair dryers and carbon monoxide detectors,” the committee added.
The commission ordered Amazon to put in place a system to notify customers who purchased defective items and remove the products from circulation by offering incentives to return or destroy them.
“Amazon accounts for about 40% of e-commerce sales in the United States overall,” says market research firm eMarketer. “The company sells many goods directly to consumers and also partners with about 2 million third-party sellers, who account for the majority of sales on the platform.”
The online retailer has been fighting a legal battle to disclaim its “distributor” status since 2021, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission filed an administrative complaint against the company for distributing hazardous materials.
Amazon told the administrative law judge and the five-member panel that it “should not be classified as a distributor under the Consumer Product Safety Act.”
The committee explained that “the judge rejected the company’s allegations, and Tuesday’s order was a confirmation of this decision.”
According to the committee, “Amazon did not notify consumers about the hazardous materials and did not take sufficient steps to encourage customers to return or destroy them, putting them at risk of injury.”
Source: AP
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2024-07-31 17:39:59
