WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Jake’s Fireworks Inc. and its affiliated companies, Far East Imports Inc. and Wholesale Fireworks Enterprises LLC, of Pittsburg, Kan., and Pacific Northwest Fireworks Inc. of Aberdeen, Wash., have agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty for importing consumer fireworks that failed to comply with federal fireworks regulations.
The penalty agreement (pdf) settles CPSC’s allegations that the firms knowingly imported more than 200,000 consumer fireworks between December 2006 and September 2007 that were banned hazardous substances.
As the firms’ fireworks were entering the United States, CPSC detained and tested them, determining that they contained too much of the pyrotechnic composition used to create the audible report (or blast). Fireworks with excess pyrotechnic composition can cause serious injury or death if they explode unexpectedly at ground level.
The settlement agreement requires the firms to destroy the violative fireworks within six months, or face additional civil penalties.
In agreeing to the settlement, the firms deny CPSC’s allegations that they violated federal law.
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years.
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