Question: Explain the steps for reporting a product recall to the U.S. govern

Explain the steps for reporting a product recall to the U.S. government. Is the process adequate to protect consumers? Why or why not?

Expert Answer

1. Log on to www.cpsc.gov.

2. To navigate to the online reporting system click on business.

3. click on sign in if you have an account or click on report without registering if you want save the act.

4. After signing in you will land on the General Information page, which is the first step to report a product recall. Fill in the general information about the following:

• Contact information
• Is the Report confidential?
• Are you filing a Fast Track recall.

After you are done click next.

5. Filing Firm Information: In this step you will need to fill in the info about the firm and other related entries. If you are third party reporting the recall, you will have the opportunity to indicate the same in this step. All the required entires will be marked and unless filled you won’t be able to navigate on the next step.

6. Product Detail tab: Fill in details regarding the product i.e: brand, date of manufacture, problem description/defect in the product.

7. Product Distribution Tab: in this step you will need to fill in information regarding the distribution channel of the product i.e when and where the product was distributed, how was it distributed and whether any corrective actions were taken towards removal of the product from the distribution chain.

8. Attachments Tab: attach any files that back up and support your report. For example, document related to any reported incident or any test report. Any document that can basically support your claim for reporting a product recall.

9. Review and Submission Tab: before you review your report and submit it make sure you save a copy of the report for any further reference. To save a pdf file, click on the save as pdf button on the top left side of the website. Review and Submit your report.

A product recall is removal of product from the market on the grounds that the use of it may prove fatal to the consumer. So reporting already implies that the product is circulating in the market, and has already caused damage to a consumer. So reporting a product recall might not be the best process to protect the consumer and is more of a damage control process.

Companies should have effective and smooth quality control processes, wherin the defected products are removed from the production unit itself. Also by keeping a regular check on percentage of rejection, companies could work on lowering their defect rate and also their product recall rate, which affects their credibility and reputation in the market.