After a successful Product Responsibility Summit in Washington, D.C. last week, members of the Product Responsibility Action Group (PRAG) – a PPAI volunteer group – stuck around the nation’s capital to meet with leadership from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in order to advocate for the promotional products industry and educate the agency on promo’s strides in compliance.

Meetings were held with:

Representing PRAG and the promo industry in the meetings were:

  • Rick Brenner, MAS+, president, Product Safety Advisors, and co-chair, Product Responsibility Summit
  • Brian Campbell, vice president of supply chain compliance, 4imprint, and co-chair, Product Responsibility Summit
  • Maurice Norris, public affairs manager, PPAI
  • Lindsey Davis, MAS, director of business development, PPAI

A Tradition Between PPAI And CPSC

Since 2008, PPAI has been meeting with the commissioners of CPSC and their staff as well as the agency’s chair.

The meetings serve two purposes:

  • Informing the CPSC of the proactive steps that our industry, the Association and our members are taking to develop, source, import, manufacture and distribute safe and compliant products.
  • Receiving guidance from CPSC in regard to evolving compliance developments or legislation that the representatives can bring back to members.

“We want to be regarded [by the CPSC] as what we are: good actors,” says Brenner.

With each new presiding commissioner and chair, PRAG takes times to educate them on the industry and the work PPAI does in the product safety realm, including Product Responsibility Summit, the role of PRAG and the Product Safety Aware program. 

Productive Sessions In D.C.

It was PRAG’s first time meeting with Commissioner Boyle and Chair Hoehn-Saric.

Topics in the two meetings included:

  • An overview of the industry, including PPAI’s role representing distributors and suppliers, as well as key metrics and milestones, such as $26 billion in 2022 sales and 15,000 PPAI members.
  • Discussion of the founding of PRAG’s role advising the board on policies for product safety, compliance, social responsibility and sustainability.
  • An overview of the 13th annual Product Responsibility Summit and what it covered.
  • The history of the Product Safety Aware program.
  • Discussions of some of the most currently relevant topics the industry is focused on, such as Reese’s Law and PFAS.

The meetings with each member of CPSC was allotted for 30 minutes, but Brenner says that Chair Hoehn-Saric was an interested audience to the discussion and spoke with PRAG for 45 minutes, only ending the meeting when an aide for Commissioner Boyle informed the group they were running late for their meeting with Boyle, who made the time for a full meeting with PRAG.

“It was a pleasure to be able to meet with the leadership from the CPSC while in Washington, D.C. for Product Responsibility Summit,” says Davis. “It’s clear that the reciprocal nature of the relationship between promo and the CPSC is an important part of the evolution of our industry, as well as a way to keep the agency informed of our good faith efforts to be responsible actors on compliance. Commissioner Boyle and Chair Hoehn-Saric were a pleasure to meet with.”