46 1 tion at common law or under State law relating to such con 2 sumer product. 7 3 (d) Accident and investigation reports made under this 4 Act by any officer, employee, or agent of the Commission 5 shall be available for use in any civil, criminal, or other judi6 cial proceeding arising out of such accident. Any such officer, employee, or agent may be required to testify in such proceedings as to the facts developed in such investigations. Any such report shall be made available to the public in a manner which need not identify injured persons. All reports on research projects, demonstration projects, and other related activities shall be public information. 8 9 10 11 12 SUITS FOR TREBLE DAMAGES BY PERSONS INJURED SEC. 30. Any person who shall be injured by reason of any knowing or willful violation of a consumer product safety standard, regulation, or order issued by the Commission may sue therefor in any district court of the United States in the district in which the defendant resides or is found or has an agent, without respect to the amount in controversy, and shall recover threefold the damages sustained, and the cost of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee. FEDERAL-STATE COOPERATION SEC. 31. (a) The Commission shall promote Federal State cooperation for the purpose of reducing or eliminating unreasonable risk of injury to the public from identified prod 47 1 uct hazards. In implementing such program the Commission 2 may 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 (i) accept from any State or local authorities engaged in activities relating to health, safety, or consumer protection assistance in such functions as injury data col lection, investigation, and educational programs, as well as other assistance in the administration and enforcement of this Act which it may request and which such States or localities may be able and willing to provide and, if so agreed, may pay in advance or otherwise for the reasonable cost of such assistance, and (ii) commission any qualified officer or employee of any State or local agency as an officer of the Commission for the purpose of conducting examinations, investigations, and inspections. (b) In determining whether such proposed State and 17 local programs are appropriate in implementing the purposes 18 of this Act the Commission shall give favorable consideration 19 to programs which establish separate State and local agencies 20 21 22 to consolidate functions relating to product safety and other consumer protection activities. EFFECT ON STATE STANDARDS SEC. 32. (a) Whenever a consumer product safety 24 standard or regulation established under this Act is in effect, 25 no State or political subdivision of a State shall have any 48 14 authority either to establish or to continue in effect any safety 15 standard or regulation applicable to the same aspect of per 16 formance of such consumer product which is not identical to 17 the Federal standard. 18 (b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to pre19 vent the Federal Government or the government of any 20 State or political subdivision thereof from establishing a 21 safety requirement applicable to a consumer product for its own use if such requirement imposes a higher standard of performance than that required to comply with the other24 wise applicable Federal standard. 22 23 25 14 (c) The Commission may, upon application of a State or political subdivision thereof, exempt such application from 15 the provisions of subsection (a) where a proposed standard 16 or regulation (1) imposes a higher level of performance 17 than the Federal standard, (2) is required by compelling 18 local conditions, and (3) does not unduly burden interstate 21 222 DEFINITIONS SEC. 33. (a) "Commission" means the Consumer Product Safety Commission. (b) "Consumer product" means any product, or com ponent part, which affects interstate commerce and is cus tomarily produced or distributed for sale (i) to a consumer 49 1 for use in or around a household or residence, or (ii) for 2 the personal use, consumption, or enjoyment of a consumer. 3 Such term does not include hazards associated with such 4 products to the extent such hazards are subject to duly pro5 mulgated regulations under the National Traffic and Motor 6 Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (15 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.), the 7 Flammable Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 1191 et seq.), the 8 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), the 9 Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (15 U.S.C. 10 1331 et seq.), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Ro11 denticide Act (7 U.S.C. 135 et seq.), and the Radiation 12 Control for Health and Safety Act (42 U.S.C. 262 et seq.). (c) "Identified product hazard" means a hazard associ14 ated with a consumer product which presents or may present 15 an unreasonable risk of death or personal injury to the 16 public and which the Commission describes in a regulation, 17 standard, order, or complaint issued pursuant to this Act. 18 The Commission may, in determining whether a hazard is 13 19 an "identified product hazard," consider, among other fac20 tors frequency or potential frequency of injury, severity or 21 potential severity of injury, number of products in use, 22 potential for hazard reduction, awareness of hazard by con 23 sumers, increase of hazard with age of product, and hazard 24 to nonusers, if it deems such factors applicable to its 25 determination. 50 1 (d) “Consumer product safety standard” means a mini 2 mum safety standard relating to a consumer product, promul3 gated by the Commission pursuant to section 8 or 9 of this 4 Act for the purpose of preventing or reducing risk of death 5 or personal injury from an identified product hazard. A con sumer product safety standard establishes the minimum ac7 ceptable safety level for a consumer product. Compliance 8 with a consumer product safety standard may or may not be 9 evidence of adequate care to avoid death or personal injury 10 caused by a specific consumer product. 11 (e) "Manufacturer" means any person that manufac12 tures or assembles consumer products or imports or distributes 13 consumer products manufactured or assembled elsewhere. 14 (f) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corpora15 tion, association, or any other form of business enterprise. (g) "State" includes a State of the United States, the 17 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 18 Virgin Islands, and Guam. 16 19 (h) "Interstate commerce" means commerce between 20 any place in a State and any place in another State, or be21 tween places in the same State through another State. 22 (i) "Importation" includes reimportation of consumer 23 products manufactured or processed, in whole or in part, in 24 the United States. |