RILA Criticizes Lack of CPSC Flexibility in Development of Electronic Certificate Filing Pilot
Members of the Retail Industry Leaders Association remain “deeply concerned” about the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s upcoming pilot to test electronic filing of certificates of compliance at entry, said Kathleen McGuigan, RILA senior vice president-legal and regulatory affairs, at a CPSC hearing held June 24 to discuss the agency’s priorities over the next two years. Despite having received “significant” feedback from industry, including through comments, public workshops and meetings of a CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) working group, CPSC has so far “refused to deviate from original e-filing requirements” contained in a controversial proposed rule, she told the commissioners.
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Although a proposed rule on electronic filing of certificates of compliance that sparked controversy and led to the pilot has been out since May 2013 (see 13051018 and 1411100043), CPSC still has yet to justify why the increased burdens of e-filing are necessary, said McGuigan. “Despite continuing requests for the staff to demonstrate both how the e-filing proposal itself and the required data fields would improve safety, the agency has not clearly articulated how its import surveillance targeting efforts would directly and cost effectively be improved,” she said, referring to the 10 data elements required for e-filing under the proposal.
The need to match electronically filed certificates at the entry line level is an “incredibly challenging” technological impediment for importers to overcome, said McGuigan. And the “staggering” costs of implementing e-filing would be “mostly borne by companies who are following the rules and importing compliant products,” she said. “RILA is hopeful that some of the changes it has recommended, especially the limitation of required data fields to only those necessary for enhanced targeting, will be reflected in the Federal Register notice announcing and outlining the alpha pilot program,” said McGuigan. “It would be a disappointing result if all the effort and extensive dialog between the CPSC and stakeholders yields an alpha pilot that looks exactly the same as the proposal that the CPSC outlined at the outset of this process.”
Responding to McGuigan’s testimony, CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye urged RILA to provide more detailed information on how exactly the additional data elements would be a burden for industry. Detailed data on costs will be a “huge piece” of Kaye’s decision-making as CPSC moves forward with electronic filing, but Kaye said he still doesn’t have a “grasp” on the specific costs industry will face.