Eight point plan to improve co-ordination between government agencies

The Consumers Union (CU) has urged more coordination among government agencies as well as better tools and more resources to keep up with the growing number of imports and to accomplish this, CU has recommended an eight point action plan:

• Provide increased resources to government safety agencies to prevent unsafe products from crossing our borders.
• Prompt the need for pre-shipment inspection and testing by holding importers, distributors, and retailers accountable for bringing unsafe products to the market.
• Develop U.S. government-administered third-party safety certification programs.
• Develop a product traceability program for country-of-origin labeling for food, drugs, and cosmetics, as well as other consumer products.
• Require that importers post a safety bond to ensure they have the resources to recall products if required.
• Give all agencies the power to levy meaningful civil penalties for companies who fail to comply with regulations; and criminal penalties for those who knowingly or repeatedly jeopardize public safety.
• Authorize mandatory recall authority for all government agencies.
• Require all government agencies to publicly disclose information pertaining to safety investigation and reports of adverse events.
  
  Check out the post at:
  http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2007/07/our-eight-point.html