In what other industry besides trucking has the government ever mandated the purchase of a ‘self-certification’ product?

In my December 2, 2017, TDMST Weekly Round-Up, I cited a November 30, 2017, article that captured the following:

I self-certify that my product works as I say it will. Since the FMCSA isn't checking, you're the guinea pig. Ha ha!Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hall sent a letter to the FMCSA, asking “for a delay on the [Electronic Logging Device] mandate, citing the ‘self-certification’ provision in the current regulation that allows device manufacturers to claim their ELDs are compliant, without any government or third-party verification.”(1)

He wrote that “with no effective procedures seemingly yet developed to provide oversight over such self-certifying — drivers and operators are left without any way of ascertaining which brands and models of devices ultimately will pass muster … They must fly blindly into investing in products they are being required to purchase.”

It is like ELD manufacturers are saying to professional truck drivers and trucking companies, “I self-certify that my product works as I say it will. Since the FMCSA isn’t checking, you’re the guinea pig. Ha ha!”

DAT TruckersEdge - Most Loads. Best Rates. Serving Owner-Operators Since 1978. 10% off your first 12 months. New customers only.

In light of that, I feel compelled to ask:

In what other industry besides trucking has the government ever mandated the purchase of a ‘self-certification’ product?

Note: This article — which was originally written and published on December 3, 2017, by Vicki Simons — was updated slightly in 2018.


Return from In what other industry besides trucking has the government ever mandated the purchase of a ‘self-certification’ product? to our Truck Operations page or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.


Reference:

1. www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=71303#.WiIeUXZrzcs (no longer online)