Amazon sues government safety agency over having to recall products from other sellers

Amazon is suing the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission over the government agency’s order requiring the online retailer to recall hundreds of thousands of potentially hazardous products sold by other sellers on its platform.

The commission in July 2024 ruled that Amazon was distributing products that are defective or fail to meet federal safety standards. The CPSC also said Amazon was legally responsible for the recall of more than 400,000 products, including faulty carbon monoxide detectors, hairdryers without electrocution protection and children’s sleepwear that violates federal flammability standards. 

The CPSC ruling and order came three years after it authorized an administrative complaint against Amazon that alleged it distributed certain products that could pose a danger to consumers. Amazon said its lawsuit comes in response to a final order filed by the CPSC on January 17.

During the proceedings, Amazon did not contest that the products presented a substantial hazard, but argued that it is not a distributor and is not responsible for protecting the public from products sold by third parties. The company reiterated that stance in a lawsuit filed late last week, describing itself as a logistics provider rather than a distributor. 

“The commission may issue recall orders to the manufacturers, distributors and retailers of a product, but not to third-party logistics providers who store the product in their warehouses and transport it to customers,” Amazon stated its suit, filed on March 14 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. 

Amazon also alleges that the CPSC’s structure is unconstitutional because it lets commissioners “act as judge, jury and prosecutor in the same proceeding.”

Amazon declined to comment on its litigation, but a spokesperson said that the company had notified customers that they should stop using products flagged by the CPSC for recall and refunded them. Amazon launched a product recall page in 2023. 

The CPSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Consumer Reports blasts Amazon

A consumer group decried the company’s legal maneuvering. 

“It’s absurd to suggest that because a company hosts a marketplace online it should be exempt from sensible requirements that help get hazardous products out of people’s homes and prevent them from being sold,” William Wallace, director of safety advocacy at Consumer Reports, said in a statement. 

“What’s even worse is that the company is attacking the legal foundation on which the CPSC rests,” he added. “Amazon’s suit suggests the company thinks the people of the United States would be better off without an independent, bipartisan safety agency to enforce our laws and protect consumers from dangerous products.”