CONSUMER RIGHTS
Stress on safety
Pushpa Girimaji

Nokia’s recall (it prefers to call it product advisory and not a recall) of 46 million defective BL-5C batteries, manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Company, Japan, following about 100 incidents of overheating reported from different parts of the world, brings into sharp focus the issue of consumer product safety. Unfortunately, in India we neither have a comprehensive product liability law nor an independent product safety commission to monitor the safety of goods in the market. As a result, product recalls are rare and dependent entirely on the manufacturer.

In countries where product safety gets the highest priority, recalls are commonplace. In the US, for example, where the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) works with the industry to ensure the safety of goods, there were about 30 recalls during just one month—-July, 2007. The products involved included toys and electric blowers to sweaters and frozen carbonated beverage dispensers. All of them had some problem or the other that could affect the safety of the user and, therefore, had to be replaced by the manufacturer. For example, the sweaters did not meet the federal flammability requirements and were, therefore, found to be dangerous as they could ignite if touched with an ignition source such as a cigarette lighter, candle flame or stove burner.

The biggest recall during August was that of toys manufactured by Mattel. Out of five recalls of Mattel announced by the CPSC, one pertained to surface paints containing lead levels in excess of federal standards. With the rest, the risk was that of small magnets in the toys coming loose and children swallowing them. Said the CPSC:" If more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforation or blockage, which can be fatal".

Not only does the CPSC provide toll-free 24-hour hotlines for consumers to report product-related accidents and injuries, it also makes it mandatory on the part of the manufacturer to report any such complaints or information in its knowledge that could jeopardise consumer safety vis-`E0-vis the products. On the basis of these reports and investigations, the CPSC asks the manufacturer to recall the product. In July this year the CPSC field a lawsuit against a company for its failure to report in time serious injuries caused by a product.

An official of the CPSC, whom I met some years ago, had said that much more than this action, what makes the manufacturers comply with CPSC directions on recall is the threat of lawsuits seeking damages for any injury or loss caused on account of unsafe products. Since the damages awarded by the US courts are substantial, that is always a big threat to the manufacturer.

Europe, too, has introduced, since October 1, 2005, a more comprehensive legislation on product safety through the General Product Safety Regulations, 2005. According to a report, in the UK alone there were 92 recalls or notifications in 2006 (these exclude 78 food related recalls or withdrawals)—-twice the number of recalls in the previous year.

The legislation places an obligation on the manufacturer and the distributor to not only provide safe products but also ensure that the product complies with safety standards. It is also mandatory for manufacturers and distributors to monitor the safety of products in the market and withdraw those found to be unsafe.

They also have to put in place measures to ensure quick traceability of the product. The legislation also makes it mandatory for the manufacturers and the distributors to notify the competent authorities and cooperate with them if they discover their product to be unsafe, on the basis of information received or tests conducted. Not following these steps could well lead to huge fines being slapped on the manufacturer.

On July 16 this year a UK court imposed a fine of `A3 1 million sterling on Cadbury-Schweppes for allowing salmonella contaminated chocolates to be sold to the public last year between January 19 and March 10 .

In an expanding global market, if we in India fail to have a comprehensive product liability law and a consumer product safety commission, the public at large would not only be at risk but also at the mercy of manufacturers. It becomes imperative that the government takes immediate steps to protect consumers from unsafe products in the market.

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