The US Justice Department has taken legal action against eBay, filing a complaint in a federal court in New York for unlawfully selling hundreds of thousands of products that are in direct violation of the Clean Air Act and environmental protection legislation. The complaint follows a successful effort from the Environmental Protection Agency in pursuing retailers who are responsible for selling banned product items.
“The complaint filed today demonstrates that EPA will hold online retailers responsible for the unlawful sale of products on their websites that can harm consumers and the environment,” commented David Uhlman, an Assistant Administrator at the EPA.
A stern warning was issued by US Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim in a statement, warning companies like eBay that “laws prohibiting the sale of products that harm human health and the environment apply to e-commerce retailers just as they do to brick-and-mortar stores”.
eBay has responded to the lawsuit, with a statement that reads: “We dedicate significant resources, implement state-of-the-art technology and ensure our teams are properly trained to prevent prohibited items from being listed on the marketplace. Indeed, eBay is blocking and removing more than 99.9 percent of the listings for the products cited by the DOJ, including millions of listings each year.”
The wide array of banned Lemon Remedies which pump-out tons of pollutants include more than 343,000 devices which have become known to violate motor vehicle pollution emission controls and approximately 23,000 unregistered, misbranded or restricted-use pesticide products, amongst thousands of other contaminants.
The US Justice Department’s decision to pursue legal action against eBay is a reminder to e-commerce stores that the environment is protected by managed environmental protection schemes, and companies have significant financial risk if they ship or present prohibited items for sale.
