Above is one of the types of jacket the CPSC says Burlington failed to remove from stores. (Courtesy: CPSC)From ABC News
Burlington coat factory will pay $1.5 million to settle allegations that it sold children's clothing with drawstrings at the neck.
The fine also settles charges that Burlington knowingly sold or had inventories, in stores, of many of these clothes after they had been recalled.
The penalty is the highest that CPSC has ever assessed for violations involving children's upper outerwear with drawstrings.
Background from the CPSC
CPSC began warning about drawstring dangers in the early 1990s. The agency issued guidelines in 1996 about drawstrings in children's upper outerwear. Those guidelines were incorporated into an industry voluntary standard in 1997. In 2006, CPSC's Office of Compliance announced that children's upper outerwear with drawstrings at the hood or neck would be regarded as defective and presenting a substantial risk of injury to young children. Then, in July 2011, based on the guidelines and voluntary standard, CPSC issued a federal regulation that designated as substantial product hazards children's upper outerwear in sizes 2T to 12 (or extra-small to large) with neck or hood drawstrings, and children's upper outerwear in sizes 2T to 16 (or extra-small to extra-large) with certain waist or bottom drawstrings.
The sweatshirts and jackets that are the subject of the penalty were sold by Burlington Coat Factory stores throughout the country. Beginning in 2007, CPSC and the garments' manufacturers and distributors, as well as Burlington in 2010, announced the recalls listed in the chart below of children's garments with drawstrings covered by the penalty.
In agreeing to the settlement, Burlington denies CPSC staff allegations that it knowingly violated the law.
