Interagency Working Group Finalizes Action Plan for Import Safety
December 13, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The Interagency Working Group on Import Safety, a committee charged with identifying actions to improve the safety of imported products, released the Action Plan for Import Safety, a roadmap for continual improvement detailing the organizing principles, recommendations and short- and long-term actions needed to ensure the safety of American consumers.
Overall, the plan identifies the need for the U.S. to shift from its current import safety system to a risk-based approach that focuses on prevention.
Increased reliance on voluntary consensus standards will play a key role in this shift, as will continued government participation in the development of these standards and compliance programs.
The plan specifically identifies the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as the accreditor of many well-known standards developers, and as an organization that can help to accelerate and coordinate any additional needed documents and programs.
Third-party certification programs and the accreditation of certifying bodies will also play an important preventative role, helping to build safety into the products that reach American shores. The plan cites the Toy Safety Coordination Initiative, a collaboration between ANSI and the Toy Industry Association (TIA), as an example of a private sector-led program that is strengthening conformity assessment systems for consumer products.
The action plan posits three organizing principles, 14 broad recommendations and 50 specific action steps, each with an assigned lead agency and time frame. They include:
Prevention with Verification
- Create new and strengthen existing safety standards.
- Verify compliance of foreign producers with U.S. safety and security standards through certification.
- Promote good importer practices.
- Strengthen penalties and take strong enforcement actions to ensure accountability.
- Make product safety an important principle of U.S. diplomatic relations and increase the profile of relevant foreign assistance activities.
Intervention
- Harmonize federal government procedures and requirements for processing import shipments.
- Complete a single-window interface for the intra-agency, interagency and private-sector exchange of import data.
- Create an interactive import safety information network.
- Expand laboratory capacity and develop rapid testing methods for swift identification of hazards.
- Strengthen protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).
Response
- Maximize the effectiveness of product recalls.
- Maximize federal-state collaboration.
- Expedite consumer notification of product recalls.
- Expand the use of electronic track-and-trace technologies.
According to the plan, members of the working group will reconvene within 30 days to assess the implementation process. Chaired by U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt, the group is comprised of senior officials from 12 agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Trade Representative and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
The Action Plan for Import Safety is available for review and download at www.importsafety.gov.
Source: American National Standards Institute (ANSI).