Product Quality, Durability & Consumer Standards
PRODUCT QUALITY, DURABILITY & CONSUMER STANDARDS
POSITION
Products sold as new in the United States must work, perform their advertised functions, use materials suitable for their stated purpose, and meet a clear minimum quality standard. Consumers should be able to identify a product's verified quality, expected service life, repair support, and assembly demands before paying for it.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
A functioning market requires honest information and meaningful accountability. A product may be inexpensive and simple. It may not be unsafe, falsely represented, or disposable junk disguised as a properly functioning new product. Competition should reward businesses that make dependable products, not businesses that cut hidden corners and transfer the cost of failure to consumers.
NATIONAL CONSUMER PRODUCT QUALITY STANDARD
Every new consumer product offered for sale in the United States must satisfy a published standard applicable to its product category. When no category-specific standard exists, the product must satisfy a general federal Basic Duty standard. A product that cannot satisfy the Basic Duty standard may not be sold as new.
The applicable standard must verify that the product:
works for its stated purpose;
performs every materially advertised function;
is safe during reasonably foreseeable use;
is complete and reasonably capable of being assembled as advertised;
uses materials and components suitable for its stated loads, conditions, and ordinary use;
meets a published minimum service life measured in years, operating hours, cycles, loads, or another appropriate measurement; and
does not depend on an undisclosed subscription, accessory, repair, modification, or additional purchase to provide an advertised function.
VERIFIED QUALITY CLASSES
Basic Duty: Meets the minimum requirements for safe, functional, ordinary use. Its expected service life must be clearly disclosed.
Standard Duty: Meets higher published durability, service-life, repairability, and parts-availability requirements.
Heavy Duty: Meets verified higher loads, operating cycles, environmental conditions, durability, and long-term support requirements.
Manufacturers may not invent their own definitions for these classifications. Each classification must correspond to a published test. A product may not receive a classification solely because of its price, brand name, advertising, or unsupported manufacturer claim.
REQUIRED CONSUMER LABEL
The product, packaging, and online listing must clearly disclose:
its verified quality class;
its expected service life under ordinary use;
the applicable test standard and certification number;
its warranty period;
how long replacement parts will remain available and whether the product is reasonably repairable;
material, weight, load, operating, and environmental limits when relevant;
required assembly time, tools, skill level, anchoring, and number of people; and
the accountable United States manufacturer, importer, or responsible seller.
THIRTY-DAY PRODUCT APPROVAL
When government approval or certification is required, each product model or materially identical product line must receive a decision within 30 calendar days after the responsible agency receives a complete application and required testing materials.
Within five calendar days, the agency must identify any missing information. It may not repeatedly request minor information merely to restart or extend the deadline.
By day 30, the agency must:
approve the product;
approve it subject to specific corrective conditions; or
deny it through a detailed written decision identifying every failed standard, the supporting evidence, and the changes necessary for approval.
PRODUCT APPROVAL APPEALS
A manufacturer, importer, or responsible seller may appeal a denial to an independent reviewer who did not participate in the original decision. The appeal must be completed within 15 calendar days. The reviewer must affirm the denial, reverse it, or return the application with specific instructions for approval.
A missed deadline cannot leave an application unresolved indefinitely. A low-risk product may receive provisional approval after day 30, subject to inspection, suspension, and recall. A product involving a substantial risk of death or serious injury will not receive automatic approval, but the applicant must receive an expedited hearing and decision.
PREBUILT OR PROPERLY DESIGNED FOR ASSEMBLY
A product must either be delivered in a properly functioning prebuilt condition or be designed so an ordinary consumer with the disclosed skill level can assemble it safely and successfully.
All required components, fasteners, specialty tools, instructions, and safety information must be included unless a missing item was clearly disclosed before purchase.
Parts must align and fit within reasonable manufacturing tolerances without forced bending, unsafe modification, or undisclosed drilling or machining.
Instructions must accurately identify the parts, sequence, orientation, warnings, anchoring, tools, and number of people required.
The advertised assembly time must be a reasonable estimate for the disclosed consumer skill level.
UNIVERSAL THIRTY-DAY RETURN RIGHT
Consumers must have at least 30 calendar days after receiving a new consumer product to inspect, reasonably test, assemble when required, and return it.
Reasonable inspection, assembly, or testing does not eliminate the return right. A seller may not require unopened packaging when opening the package was reasonably necessary to inspect or test the product. Return conditions and any lawful exception must be clearly disclosed before purchase.
FIFTEEN-DAY REFUND DEADLINE
The seller must issue the refund within 15 calendar days after receiving the returned product. When the seller supplied the return label, the deadline begins when the carrier accepts and scans the return.
The refund must:
be returned to the original payment method unless the consumer chooses another method;
include the purchase price and applicable taxes;
include the original standard delivery charge when the product was defective, unsafe, incomplete, falsely advertised, improperly classified, or failed to meet its certified standard;
be provided as money rather than forced store credit; and
be issued without a restocking, inspection, processing, or return fee when the product was defective or failed to meet its advertised or certified standard.
The seller must pay return shipping for a defective, unsafe, falsely advertised, incomplete, or noncompliant product. For an ordinary change of mind, the consumer may be responsible for return shipping only if that condition was clearly disclosed before purchase.
Any limited exception for a perishable, personalized, hygiene-sensitive, or fully consumed product must be necessary, reasonable, and prominently disclosed before payment. An exception may never excuse a defective, dangerous, falsely advertised, or noncompliant product.
WARRANTIES, PARTS & REPAIR SUPPORT
A durable consumer product designed for repeated long-term use should carry a minimum two-year functional guarantee unless a longer period is advertised or required by its certified class.
For a product priced above $250, reasonably necessary replacement parts, service information, and diagnostic information should remain available for at least seven years unless a longer support period was advertised.
A consumer should receive a refund or replacement after one failed repair attempt for the same material defect or when the product remains unavailable for use for more than 14 cumulative days during the warranty period.
A seller must provide an available replacement part within five business days or provide a replacement product or refund when the missing part prevents safe assembly or ordinary use.
FAIR IMPLEMENTATION
Standards must be specific to the product's purpose, risk, expected use, price category, materials, loads, operating cycles, and environment. A single rigid test should not be imposed on unrelated products.
Affordable products may offer fewer features or a shorter clearly disclosed service life. They may not be unsafe, falsely advertised, materially defective, or incapable of ordinary use.
The same requirements must apply to imported and domestically produced goods.
Low-risk products and small manufacturers may use simplified and affordable testing procedures, but no seller receives an exemption from safety, truthful labeling, minimum functionality, or accountability.
Standards and test methods must be public, measurable, developed through an open process, and subject to periodic review using failure, repair, warranty, complaint, and recall data.
ACCOUNTABILITY & SAFEGUARDS
The manufacturer, importer, and responsible seller must identify the party accountable in the United States for compliance, remedies, and recalls.
A false quality label, fabricated certification, concealed defect, or materially inaccurate service-life claim may result in stop-sale authority, mandatory refunds, replacement, repair, restitution, recall, and civil penalties scaled to sales, intent, repetition, and consumer harm.
Knowing certification fraud or intentional concealment of a serious safety hazard may be referred for criminal prosecution.
A business is not responsible for damage caused by proven abuse, unauthorized material alteration, an accident unrelated to a defect, or use contrary to a clear and reasonable safety instruction. Ordinary wear may reduce a remedy only when it actually caused the failure.
Core MPA standard: A cheap product may be simple. It may not be junk. Before paying, consumers must know what verified standard the product meets, how long it should reasonably last, and who is accountable if it fails.
Related policies: Consumer Rights; Investigations, Enforcement Deadlines & Due Process; Trade, Tariffs & Fair Market Access; Cost of Living & Economic Security; Regulatory Reform & Administrative Due Process.
Status: Proposed / Draft, not yet formally adopted.
Originally published: September 27, 2026.
Last updated: September 27, 2026.
Version: Draft 0.1.