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NEWARK
– State Division of Consumer Affairs
investigators, during an unannounced sweep
of urban discount stores conducted this
month, discovered holiday lights, decorations
and other electrical items that bear counterfeit
labels of the Underwriters Laboratory (UL)
testing organization and may pose risks
to consumers.
Consumer
Affairs investigators purchased 179 items
from 43 dollar stores in Paterson, Newark,
Trenton and Camden and sent the products
to UL to determine if any bear counterfeit
labels. UL found that seven items had the
UL logo on their packaging but counterfeit
UL labels attached to the products.
“Consumers
depend on the UL label as proof that a product
meets UL’s standards. When that label,
or the labels of other testing organizations,
are falsely applied to untested products,
the public is defrauded and, of greater
concern, placed at unnecessary risk,”
Attorney General Paula T. Dow said.
The
stores selling the items with counterfeit
UL labels cooperated with Consumer Affairs
investigators, removing all such items from
store shelves and providing their purchasing
records to the Division. Consumer Affairs
will notify the Customs and Border Protection
within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
since these products are imported.
“We’re
committed to keeping counterfeit, and potentially
unsafe, products away from consumers,”
said Thomas R. Calcagni, Acting Director
of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “A
counterfeit label attached to an item is
a deliberate attempt to deceive consumers
and to commit fraud in violation of our
state law.”
The
stores where products with counterfeit UL
labels were found and removed from shelves
are as follows:
- D&D
99 Cent store, 181 Market St., Paterson
- Multicolor 140 Count Musical Christmas
Lights
- Rainbow Light 12 Foot Rope
- 99
Cents Shop & Up,123 Main St., Paterson
- 10 Light Multi Tree Top
- Red Blue Green 100 Light String Lights
- Dollar
Classic, 154 Bloomfield Ave,Newark
- 10 Light Multi Tree Top
- Multicolor 100 Count Christmas String
Lights
- Jersey
Dollar, 1960 Olden Ave Ext., Ewing
- Sunlite Baseball Night Light
According
to statistics released by the Electrical
Safety Foundation International (ESFI),
while 71% of people report that they are
likely to use at least one extension cord
for their holiday decorations, 33% of people
are unlikely or very unlikely to check for
a certification laboratory approval mark
on the extension cords, lights and decorations
they own or plan to buy. An estimated 3,300
residential fires originate from extension
cords each year, killing and injuring more
than 300 people, according to the U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission.
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