What's happening
This bill requires online marketplaces to provide a product recall search form for sellers and allows penalties for noncompliance.
Why it matters
Expands oversight and accountability for online marketplaces. by explicitly defining them and making them responsible for integrating a recall search tool at the point of product listing, which could increase consumer safety and trust.
Empowers sellers to check recall status directly. , potentially reducing accidental or negligent sales of recalled products and encouraging more responsible selling practices.
Introduces a compliance mechanism with significant penalties. up to $15 million—for marketplaces that fail to implement the required recall search form, giving the law real enforcement power and signaling the seriousness of consumer safety.
Addresses information gaps for sellers. by requiring a clear acknowledgement when a seller lacks enough information to check recall status, reinforcing legal awareness and putting sellers on notice regarding their responsibilities.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Recall Search on Marketplaces
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to consumer protection
- Print number 6508a
- Amend and recommit to rules
- Reported and committed to rules
- Referred to consumer protection
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6508--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 26, 2017
Introduced by Sen. CARLUCCI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection -reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Committee on Rules -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring online market places to provide a product recall search web form
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 349-f to read as follows:
§ 349-f. Product recall search web form. 1. For purposes of this section, the term "online market place" shall mean an internet site used to facilitate the sale of goods and services, including any internet site used for auctions that are operated by any buyer, seller, or thirdparty intermediary.
2. Online market places shall provide on their web page, where a seller inputs product information, a web form where the seller may search the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall central database. Online market places shall use the application program interface provided by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall retrieval web service to create such web form.
3. If it is determined through a search of the recall central database, as described in subdivision two of this section, that a product has been recalled, the online market place may block the seller of the product from selling such product on their site.
4. The online market place shall also provide space on the web form, described in subdivision two of this section, where sellers may indicate that they do not have enough information to determine if their product has been recalled. The following shall be stated in such space: "I do not have enough information to determine if the product has been
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10611-06-7
S. 6508--A 2
recalled. I have read the related guidelines regarding selling recalled products and I understand my responsibility to not sell a recalled product."
5. It shall be a violation if an online market place does not provide a web form, as described in subdivision two of this section. The attorney general shall have the authority to investigate violations under this section, and if the attorney general believes that a person has violated or is violating such section, then the attorney general may bring a civil action on behalf of the people of the state of New York. The attorney general may seek in his or her discretion, in an action for the recovery of a penalty under this section, an amount of up to fifteen million dollars.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring online market places to provide a product recall search web form
Purpose or general idea of bill
To require online marketplace websites that facilitate the sale of products online to implement a web form that checks if if the product a person is trying to sell is the subject of a recall by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and to prevent the illegal sale of a recalled item that may pose a danger to a child or infant.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Definitions and how the check form functions and obtains its data, and penalties for failure to implement.
Read the full memo (667 words)
Section 2: Effective date
Justification
Online marketplace websites such as Amazon, eBay, & Craigslist facilitate the sale of products from one individual to another on their platforms. The problem is that these sites have loose requirements on what information a seller must post on the site regarding the product they are trying to sell. This results in the customer not knowing the full extent of what they are purchasing and said product may be hazardous to the health and safety of the customer. Only 14% of 2014's recalled children's products were successfully corrected, replaced or returned according to a report published by Kids in Danger, an advocacy group dedicated to improving children's product safety. Compared to 2015, the number of children's product recalls increased 12 percent in 2016.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says that the sale of any product that has been recalled is illegal and violators can be charged up to $15 million in federal fines. A sale of a recalled product whether in a garage sale, toy store, or online are equally illegal and the agency advises consumers, "when in doubt, throw it out".
Sellers continue to use online marketplace websites to sell products that may have been recalled despite the minimalist warnings providing by the operators of these sites. Often, sellers don't know that the product has been recalled and it doesn't occur to many people to check.
The proposed solution is to have a check form on the webpage where a seller posts information about the product that can live check the CPSC's federal database to see if the product a person is attempting to sell has been recalled. It if has been recalled, then the sale is blocked. If the seller does not have enough information to identify the product to check to see if it is listed on the CPSC database, space is provided for the seller to acknowledge that that he or she has read and understands the following: "I do not have enough information to determine if the product has been recalled. I have read the related guidelines regarding selling recalled products and I understand my responsibility not to sell a recalled product."
The CPSC has published a document titled, "CPSC Recalls Retrieval, Web Services Programmers Guide" which enables programmers and application developers to access the recalled products database. The federal agency has provided the tools necessary to access their database to implement said check form.
https://www.cpsc.g v/Recalls/CPSC-Rs-Applica ion-Program-Inte face-API- Information
This check form will not only bring awareness to buyers and sellers of the law regarding the selling of recalled products, but also to prevent a recalled product at the point of sale from eventually getting into the hands of a child or infant. There are too many individual listings of products for sale to be individually checked so this form allows for self-governance to combat this problem.
In alignment with the federal government's maximum fine for the sale of a recalled product, failure to implement the form would be up to $15 million. The State Attorney General shall enforce the law.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
This act shall take effect 180 days after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.