US agency puts onus on Amazon for sale of hazardous third-party products

(Reuters) -Amazon.com is responsible for hazardous products sold by third-party sellers on its platform under the federal safety law and bears legal responsibility for their recall, the U.S. consumer protection authority said on Tuesday.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said it has issued an order for the e-commerce giant to propose remediation plans to notify consumers about these products and to remove them from consumers’ homes by encouraging returns or destruction.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

More than 400,000 products are subject to this order, the CPSC said, noting in particular faulty carbon monoxide detectors, hairdryers without electrocution protection, and children’s sleepwear that violated flammability standards.

The CPSC has determined that Amazon was a “distributor” of such defective products as they are listed on its website, even though they are sold by third-party sellers under the “Fulfilled by Amazon” program.

“Amazon failed to notify the public about these hazardous products and did not take adequate steps to encourage its customers to return or destroy them, thereby leaving consumers at substantial risk of injury,” the agency said.

The CPSC in July 2021 sued Amazon, forcing the company to recall hundreds of thousands of hazardous products sold on its platform. At the time, Amazon said it had removed “the vast majority” of those products from its store and provided full refunds to customers.

The CPSC on Tuesday said Amazon argued before an administrative law judge that it was not acting as a distributor of the products within the meaning of the Consumer Product Safety Act, and therefore bore no responsibility for the items.

The “Fulfilled by Amazon” program allows third-party sellers to list their products on Amazon, which are stored, packed and dispatched by Amazon on order.

Late last year, the CPSC warned consumers to stop using toy magnets from Chinese seller Doraemon, which were being sold on Amazon.com (NASDAQ:), following seven deaths from ingestion.