What Every Importer, Brand and Retailer Needs to Know About Product Safety | The Fine Print

Retailers, importers and consumer product brands might assume product safety compliance is primarily the manufacturer’s responsibility. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), however, has broad authority to pursue every entity in the supply chain, including retailers, importers, distributors, and private-label brands, for the sale of recalled, hazardous, or non-compliant consumer products. For consumer products businesses, the compliance risks are significant and growing.

The CPSC framework focuses less on who physically manufactured a product and more on who placed it into U.S. commerce. A retailer importing private-label merchandise, directing packaging or labeling, modifying a product, or bundling products together may effectively be treated as a manufacturer under certain CPSC regulations, even if production occurred entirely overseas. This issue has become more pressing as some retailers and specialty brands expand direct-import and private-label programs to protect margins and differentiate themselves in a competitive marketplace.

What Compliance Requires

Children’s products generally require third-party testing by a CPSC-accepted laboratory and must be accompanied by a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC). General-use products subject to mandatory safety standards, including certain candles, furniture, batteries, and other consumer goods, typically require specialized testing and may also require a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC).

Importers and retailers should not assume these documents exist simply because a factory claims compliance. Many businesses discover too late that testing documentation is outdated, tied to the wrong SKU, or generated without adequate oversight. Those gaps can become serious liabilities if a product incident, customs examination, or recall occurs.

Meeting the July Deadline

Beginning July 8, 2026, importers of regulated consumer products must electronically transmit product certificate data to U.S. Customs and Border Protection through the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) at the time of customs entry. Prior to this date, importing brands simply had to maintain certificates internally and produce them only upon request.

For each shipment, importers must provide their customs broker with specific data elements including a unique product identifier, the applicable safety standard citation, manufacturing date and location, test date and laboratory information, and the name of the party maintaining testing records. The broker then transmits that information to CPSC through ACE. Critically, customs brokers cannot certify products on behalf of their clients and can only transmit data the importer provides. The responsibility for accurate, complete, and current certificate data rests entirely with the importer.

Companies may discover that existing certificates are outdated, tied to the wrong SKU, or missing the specific data fields the new system requires. Importers who arrive at the July 8 deadline unprepared face costly cargo holds of up to 60 days, civil penalties, and a permanently elevated risk score that triggers more frequent inspections on future shipments. For those with gaps, working proactively with counsel and your customs broker to remediate them quickly is far preferable to waiting for a cargo hold or enforcement action to force the issue.

Recalls, Reporting, and the Retailer’s Role

Retailers should understand that recalls are not limited to manufacturers. The CPSC routinely expects retailers and distributors to participate in corrective actions involving recalled or hazardous products, including stopping sales, isolating inventory, notifying downstream customers, and coordinating public communications.

Beyond formal recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Act imposes reporting obligations when a company obtains information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product may contain a defect creating a substantial product hazard or an unreasonable risk of serious injury. Companies that delay reporting can face significant civil penalties or even prosecution.

Practical Steps to Avoid Penalties and Shipment Delays

Retailers and importers should review supplier agreements to ensure they clearly allocate responsibility for testing, certification, recalls, indemnification, and insurance. Many businesses rely on overseas factories or sourcing agents without fully documenting who bears responsibility if a product safety issue arises. Businesses should also evaluate whether product recall insurance is part of their risk management program, as recall coverage can help address costs associated with product withdrawals, customer notifications, disposal, and crisis management.

Whether you are a national brand or a specialty retailer, the CPSC’s compliance framework applies equally. For importers, missing the July 2026 e-filing deadline is not simply a paperwork problem, it can mean delayed shipments, cargo holds, and penalties leading to goods stuck at port instead of on store shelves.

Column written by Alexander “Zander” Brekke, a Georgia-licensed attorney who has sat on both sides of the table — first as a corporate president and in-house counsel in the consumer products industry, now as the founder of A. Brekke Law Group. He represents vendors, brands, retailers and executives navigating the legal and regulatory challenges that come with building and running a consumer products business. Visit abrekkelawgroup.com for more, or contact Brekke at [email protected].