Bankers Advertising Product Responsibility
Bankers Advertising Company is Product Safety Aware
The Product Safety Awareness Program is facilitated by the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) and allows us to train and educate our company's ambassadors to bring our clients the latest in product safety information. This program not only keeps our team and clients in-the-know about product safety, it also keeps our client's promotional products recipients safe and confident in the products they are being given.
Why it's important
Product responsibility is just smart business. Increasingly, your promotional product recipients want and need assurances that products comply with environmental, social and product safety regulations and standards. When regulations exist, compliance is required by law. That is why we work hard at Bankers Advertising to educate ourselves and our clients on the most pertinent and important Product Safety Information.
Why should you buy products that comply with these federal safety laws?
- To protect the safety of your product recipients.
- To protect your company, your brand and your customers.
- It is the law. Failure to follow these laws puts you and your customers at risk.
Why it's important
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act - CPSIA
Passed in 2008, a public law that made significant changes to product safety laws and gave the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) significant new responsibilities for ensuring the safety of consumer products.
If products are considered children's products, or will be given to children, the following regulations could apply:
- Lead in paint limit
- Lead in substrate
- Testing for small parts
- Phthalate limit
- And more…
It's not just children's products - products must be compliant with other Federal and state regulations:
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA): The FDA regulates the release of new foods and health-related products into the market. If you include mugs, cups or other drinkware and tableware in your campaign, FDA regulations may apply to the product.
- Prop 65: This California law seeks to protect citizens from chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. If the products you intend to distribute contain a chemical on the Prop 65 list, a warning statement is required to alert consumers of its presence. This is required for all products distributed in California—even if the rest of the supply chain is outside of the state.
- Various State Regulations: States including Maryland, California, Illinois and Connecticut all have different regulations for the presence of certain chemicals in consumer products. Review the distribution of products to make sure they meet these state standards.
What is Proposition 65 Reform?
Proposition 65, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, was created for the people of California in 1986. Prop 65 requires businesses to notify Californians via warning labels about significant amounts of chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. Products sold or used in California, including products shipped to another state and then re-shipped for distribution in California, must carry a warning label if they contain these certain chemicals—a list that started with just a couple dozen but has since ballooned to almost 1,000 chemicals.
Effective, Aug. 30, 2018 there are new, updated regulations. Ultimately, the additional regulations require new warning labels that specifically identify at least one of the chemicals that exceed the California limits in any product that a user may be exposed. We must now let you know about the presence of the chemicals prior to or during the purchase process.
You will start seeing the warning messages for non-compliant products in catalogs, on brochures, and on the products themselves. This may include both supplier catalogs and promotional materials from Bankers. If you have any questions, ask your promotional consultant for more information.
Why it Matters:
The State of California is able to compel compliance to this statute by suing in civil court, as can any district or city attorney in the state (for cities with population over 750,000) and any individual acting in the public interest. If manufacturers or distributors don’t apply warnings, they leave themselves open to Prop 65 "bounty hunters"—law firms that bring private citizen suits against violators to score an easy payday. In 2017, there were 693 settlements for a total of nearly $27 million. The maximum penalty that can be assessed for Prop 65 violations is $2,500.00 per violation per day.
Promotional products distributors and suppliers must deal with an added layer of complexity because, even if they sell products to an end buyer in another state, those products could still potentially be given away or sold in California. The law hinges on where the end buyer is first exposed to the product, regardless of the ship-to address on our order. If that end buyer contact is in California, Prop 65 applies. Under the new Prop 65 Reform everyone is liable—suppliers, distributors, sales people, and end buyers—depending on the circumstance.
Bankers Advertising will work with our suppliers to ensure that they are compliant with Prop 65 as necessary. It is our responsibility to ensure that our catalogues, physical or online, display the correct and accurate warnings for non-compliant products such that the required disclosure at the time of sale matches that of our suppliers and manufacturers. You can expect Bankers Advertising to hold our suppliers to the same rigorous standards we expect of ourselves.
Why Should I Care
Fair Labor Practices
Bankers is proud to be a member of the Fair Labor Association, an organization established in 1999 to promote adherence to international labor standards wherever products are made.