CPSC Notification Requirements, Recalls And Recent Enforcement Actions: Desk Reference For Section 15 Of The Consumer Product Safety Act

Overview

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or the Commission) is a small federal agency with a big job: protecting consumers from unreasonable risks of injury associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. The most recent appropriation for CPSC was for fiscal year (FY) 2024 for $150.975 million, and since then the agency has been funded through Continuing Resolutions. While a current employee count is not available, the FY 2026 budget request calls for salaries for 459 full-time employees (FTEs),¹ down from about 545 employees in FY 2024.² CPSC is tiny by federal government standards in terms of budget and employees, and the agency uses safety data submitted by companies pursuant to the notification requirements under Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), detailed below, to help carry out the agency’s mandate.³

 The Commission has submitted for FY 2026 a budget request of $135 million, which is almost $16 million — or about 10% — lower than its FY 2025 funding level.⁴ CPSC’s FY 2026 Performance Budget Request to Congress notes that the reduced funding level aligns with a proposal in President Trump’s FY 2026 Budget to reorganize and transfer the functions of the CPSC to a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Transfer of CPSC’s functions would take an act of Congress, and CPSC’s Budget Request recognizes that transfer would be “[c]ontingent upon enactment of authorizing legislation.”⁵ As of this writing, no full appropriations bill has been enacted for FY 2026, and most of the federal government, including CPSC, continues to be operating on a Continuing Resolution.

Congress created CPSC as an independent commission, which means that it does not report to the President either directly or through any department or agency of the federal government. By statute, the CPSC can have up to five Commissioners, one of whom serves as Chair, and only three of whom can be from the same political party. CPSC’s Chair and Commissioners are appointed by the President for seven-year terms with the advice and consent of the Senate.⁶

 At the time of this writing, the Commission has only one Commissioner, Acting Chairman Peter Feldman (Republican). In May 2025, President Trump removed CPSC’s three Democratic Commissioners without citing cause.⁷ The remaining Commissioner, Republican Douglas Dziak, resigned in August 2025 after voting, with Feldman, to delegate virtually all Commission authority to the Chairman, thereby attempting to address the Commission’s loss of a quorum.⁸,⁹ The legality of the delegation has not, to date, been addressed by a court. Feldman’s term ends in October 2026, and he could serve for up to an additional year without being renominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

This Desk Reference first explains the reporting requirements imposed by Section 15 of the CPSA, including the broad scope of CPSC’s jurisdiction, and then discusses routes to a product safety recall, reporting and recall trends, and civil and criminal penalties for late reporting.

Footnotes

^{1 CPSC, Fiscal Year 2026 Performance Budget Request to Congress (May 30, 2025) at 2, https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/FY-2026-Budget-Request.pdf?VersionId=VduKUr.mXsklMpI_I8jEQLYNeL8g2Xwk .}

^{2 CPSC, Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Plan (Nov. 6, 2024) at 1, https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/FY-2025-Op-Plan-revised 02-25-25.pdf?VersionId=eoC76aLTUB8Bq.If8WV6gezkjm9klj.1.}

^{3 Pub. L. No. 92-573, 86 Stat. 1207 (1972), codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 2051-2089.}

 ^{4 CPSC, Fiscal Year 2026 Performance Budget Request to Congress (May 30, 2025) at 1-2.}

^{5 Id.}

^{6 15 U.S.C. § 2053.}

^{7 The three fired Commissioners, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, Richard Trumka, Jr., and Mary Boyle, sued to have their firings declared unlawful under the CPSA’s removal protections, and were reinstated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Trump et. al. v. Boyle et. al., No. 8:25–cv–01628, ECF Doc. 25 (June 13, 2025). The Commissioners temporarily returned to work at the Commission, but were removed again on July 23, 2025, when the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s emergency application for a stay of the district court order pending appeal. Trump et. al. v. Boyle et. al., Docket No. 25A11, 606 U. S. ____ (2025), https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/25a11_2cp3.pdf.}

^{8 CPSC, Record of Commission Action: Interim Delegations in Furtherance of the Commission’s Adjudicatory Enforcement Authorities (Aug. 22, 2025), https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/RCA-Vote-8-22-Adjudicatory.pdf?VersionId=7_1FSO2fSjoYJy0a6aUGJYWTEP2JXVuc ; CPSC, Record of Commission Action: Interim Delegations in Furtherance of the Commission’s Regulatory Authorities (Aug. 22, 2025), https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/RCA-Vote-8-22-Regulatory.pdf?VersionId=3kxw7wiLWFFotxWl165ooYKlxmNcfgFo; CPSC, Record of Commission Action: Interim Delegations in Furtherance of the Commission’s Civil and Criminal Enforcement Authorities (Aug. 22, 2025), https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/RCA-Vote-8-22-Enforcement.pdf?VersionId=lM.RCzAOWFf8BHAyTURAgCCWA8qeFX7w .}

^{9 Under the CPSA, three members serving on the Commission constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. 15 U.S.C. § 2053(d). If there are only two members serving on the Commission because of vacancies, the two members shall constitute a quorum for up to a six month period beginning on the date of the last vacancy. Id.}

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