Amazon has sued the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) over its 2024 directive that said the marketplace operator was responsible for the sale of hazardous and recalled products on its platform, even those listed by third-party sellers, according to multiple news reports.
Amazon has long disputed the assertion that it qualifies as a distributor of products sold by third parties on its platform, and in its lawsuit the company maintains that it is simply a “third-party logistics provider” and therefore cannot be held responsible for issues arising from products sold by other parties. Amazon has used a similar argument to push back against demands from its subcontracted delivery drivers.
Amazon Argues CPSC Overstepped its Authority
The CPSC issued its directive to Amazon in July 2024, part of a larger push at the agency to get ecommerce marketplaces to take more responsibility for the products sold on their sites. In September 2024, the agency also called for an investigation into similar issues on several foreign-owned marketplaces, including Shein and Temu.
In January 2025, the CPSC ordered Amazon to notify customers who had bought more than 400,000 items covered by recalls and to issue refunds if customers could prove the products had been disposed of or destroyed. Amazon said in its lawsuit that it issued previous recall notices and some refunds shortly after the CPSC raised safety concerns several years ago, but argued that the agency overstepped its authority with the 2024 directive, according to the Associated Press.
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“The remedies ordered by the CPSC are largely duplicative of the steps we took several years ago to protect customers, which are the same steps we take whenever we learn about unsafe products,” Amazon said in a statement sent to the AP.
Will a More Corporate-Friendly Administration Agree?
In his first two months in office, President Trump has proved his eagerness to remove corporate regulatory hurdles and launched efforts to dismantle many organizations involved in consumer protection and government oversight. In February he stopped all work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and earlier this week he fired the two Democratic commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, leaving that agency to be led by its three remaining Republican commissioners.
Amazon appears to be appealing to this sentiment in its lawsuit, claiming that the CPSC is an “unconstitutionally structured agency.” Amazon and presidential advisor Elon Musk’s SpaceX also have active lawsuits challenging the structure of the National Labor Relations Board as unconstitutional.
