Amazon has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) after being found legally responsible for recalling hundreds of thousands of products sold on its platform.
The independent federal agency ordered Amazon in January to take several actions, including notifying customers who purchased over 400,000 recalled items and offering refunds to those who could prove the products were properly disposed of or destroyed.
This order followed the commission’s unanimous decision last summer that Amazon was a “distributor” of faulty items sold by third-party sellers and shipped through its fulfillment service.
However, Amazon has consistently argued that it does not qualify as a “distributor” of products offered by other sellers. In its lawsuit filed on March 14, the company claimed it serves as a “third-party logistics provider” and therefore should not be held liable for recalls of products made, owned, and sold by others.
The CPSC sued Amazon in 2021 for allegedly distributing hazardous items, accusing the company of endangering consumer safety by failing to properly notify the public about recalled products, such as defective carbon monoxide detectors and flammable children’s pajamas.
Amazon stated in its lawsuit that it had issued previous recall notices and some refunds shortly after the CPSC raised safety concerns several years ago. The company argues that the CPSC is an “unconstitutionally structured agency” that exceeded its authority with the new directive.
“The remedies ordered by the CPSC are largely duplicative of the steps we took several years ago to protect customers, which are the same steps we take whenever we learn about unsafe products,” Amazon said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. The Seattle-based company declined to comment further on its lawsuit filed last week.
Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX also have active lawsuits challenging the structure of the National Labor Relations Board as unconstitutional. These cases were initiated after the labor agency filed complaints against them regarding disputes about workers’ rights and union organizing.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission did not comment on Wednesday regarding Amazon’s lawsuit complaint. In a Jan. 17 statement about the hazardous products order, Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr. said it was the CPSC’s duty to “hold companies like Amazon accountable” and “no company is above the law.”
— news from The Associated Press