Four California Companies Must Pay $100,000 Fine For Importing and
Selling Dangerous Children's Toys
NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2002
Release # 03-041
CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: Scott Wolfson, (301) 504-7051 or Howard Tarnoff, (301) 504-7589
Four California Companies Must Pay $100,000 Fine For Importing and
Selling Dangerous Children's Toys
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is
announcing today that four Los Angeles-area businesses and six
individuals must pay $100,000 in civil penalties for allegedly importing
and selling dangerous children's toys. The firms and their owners,
which are Lucky Toys Inc. (Julia Ko and Steve Thai), Union Import Inc.
(Simon Ko), Rita Chin (owner of the now-defunct Kool Imports Inc.), 333
Imports Inc. (Harry Chin), and Seven Stars Toys Imports Inc. (Ivan Ko),
have been enjoined from violating CPSC's toy regulations and must comply
with an injunction mandating that the companies' toys are tested before
importation.
The Complaint alleged that between 1997 and 2002 these firms
imported 47 separate types of toys (totaling over 350,000 units) which
had small parts in violation of CPSC regulations. To protect children
under three years of age from choking, aspiration, or ingestion hazards,
federal law prohibits toys from having small parts. Examples of the
violative toys include baby dolls, frogs, phones, cars, airplanes, and
bath sets.
CPSC informed the companies and their owners/presidents on
numerous occasions that their imports were illegal and dangerous.
Through the inspection and detective work of CPSC and the U.S. Customs
Service, most of these toys were seized at the Port of Long Beach before
they could reach store shelves.
The settlement requires the firms to abide by the Federal
Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), including the FHSA provisions for
children's toys. The companies must ensure that independent age grading
and small-parts testing are conducted prior to importation, if the toys
are age-graded for children under three years of age.
The Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Litigation and the
U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles handled this case on CPSC's
behalf.