If you want to sell products in the largest economy in the world (namely, in the USA), you have got to play by its rules.
Whether it is related to protecting a US industry or the US consumer, there are multiple federal agencies that regulate products sold in the American market. The same goes for the European Union (EU), and an easy example of regulation for the sake of consumer protection is one with respect to restrictions on beef imports in the wake of “mad cow” disease some years ago.
In the context of fashion however, we are not interested in every federal agency but rather a limited number with certain exceptions. We would not, for example, typically need the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when importing an apparel article. If the “meat dress” worn by singer Lady Gaga were to be imported however, and therefore arriving in a refrigerated container (aka, a “reefer”) unlike most apparel imports which do not require temperature controlled transport, FDA compliance questions may arise.
This is because the FDA has a 24 hour rule with respect to the declaration of food imports – even though with its primary purpose being an article of apparel, the importer may attempt to classify it as such as opposed to raw meat.
While speaking with another professor at a fashion conference recently, I learned that risk recognition and assessment in the context of the fashion industry is not a subject closely looked at in tandem with importation. As this is an area of law I deal with frequently, I explained to him a number of risks and offered to go down to his school to do a seminar on this topic.
Risks not only arise with the more obvious Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) flammability, lead and other rules, but can also come up in the context of labeling, for issues arising under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) jurisdiction such as those involving the letters “USA” on a product not actually made in the USA.
There is also the US Fish and Wildlife that regulates other products under the fashion umbrella such as an importation of watches with a mother-of-pearl dial.
With US Customs serving as the watchdog at the border for compliance with all US federal agency rules, it is imperative for an importer to have done its regulatory due diligence in order to avoid fines and penalties by one or more of these agencies.
Questions/comments? Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com
Whether it is related to protecting a US industry or the US consumer, there are multiple federal agencies that regulate products sold in the American market. The same goes for the European Union (EU), and an easy example of regulation for the sake of consumer protection is one with respect to restrictions on beef imports in the wake of “mad cow” disease some years ago.
In the context of fashion however, we are not interested in every federal agency but rather a limited number with certain exceptions. We would not, for example, typically need the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when importing an apparel article. If the “meat dress” worn by singer Lady Gaga were to be imported however, and therefore arriving in a refrigerated container (aka, a “reefer”) unlike most apparel imports which do not require temperature controlled transport, FDA compliance questions may arise.
This is because the FDA has a 24 hour rule with respect to the declaration of food imports – even though with its primary purpose being an article of apparel, the importer may attempt to classify it as such as opposed to raw meat.
While speaking with another professor at a fashion conference recently, I learned that risk recognition and assessment in the context of the fashion industry is not a subject closely looked at in tandem with importation. As this is an area of law I deal with frequently, I explained to him a number of risks and offered to go down to his school to do a seminar on this topic.
Risks not only arise with the more obvious Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) flammability, lead and other rules, but can also come up in the context of labeling, for issues arising under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) jurisdiction such as those involving the letters “USA” on a product not actually made in the USA.
There is also the US Fish and Wildlife that regulates other products under the fashion umbrella such as an importation of watches with a mother-of-pearl dial.
With US Customs serving as the watchdog at the border for compliance with all US federal agency rules, it is imperative for an importer to have done its regulatory due diligence in order to avoid fines and penalties by one or more of these agencies.
Questions/comments? Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com
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