Issues about the product complaint database set up by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission bubbled over again last week.  We have posted on the topic before.

The CPSC-operated database allows consumers, government agencies, and others to submit reports of alleged injury or death allegedly caused by a product. Since the beginning of the database notion, there have been serious concerns about the accuracy and confidentiality of reports of alleged injury submitted and conveyed back to the public in the database. There has always been an apparent lack of attention to legitimate issues of a manufacturer’s goodwill and reputation, to the costs of unnecessary panic among product consumers, and the mischief that some plaintiffs’ lawyers might cause with unwarranted increase in litigation against manufacturers.  Obviously, false or inaccurate information does not serve the interests of consumers. And CPSC allows reports by parties who are more likely to have an agenda that goes beyond merely advising CPSC of an incident. The possibility that someone might attempt to seed the database with inaccurate or misleading information to provide ostensible support for lawsuits is a real concern for many observers.

As we noted, an anonymous company sued the CPSC last Fall over an apparently false report in the database.

Last week, Commissioner Anne Northup testified before a Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade of the House Energy and Commerce Committee at a hearing on “Oversight of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.” She addressed generally the issues with CPSC regulatory approaches. Commissioner Nord also testified, and she has reported that many of the complaints on the database were filed by law firms.

Chairwoman Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., noted that the public database remains a source of controversy. Manufacturers continue to express their concern that most of the complaints are not vetted by the CPSC before they are made public, “opening the door to all kinds of mischief, whether to fuel law suits or to try and ruin a competitor’s brand.”

Video of the hearing here.