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the CPSC may compel the manufacturer to stop distribution; notify those involved in the transport,distribution, or sale of the product by mail or other means; provide public notice on the Internet, TV,and radio; and/or mail notice to all known purchasers of the product. 243The CPSC has the authority to determine the <strong>for</strong>m and substance of any such notice, 244 but the lawprovides some guidelines <strong>for</strong> manufacturers. Unless the CPSC rules otherwise, all notices must contain,among other things, (1) identifying in<strong>for</strong>mation such as a model number and photograph of theproduct; (2) a description of the action taken to remedy the defect or noncompliance; (3) a descriptionof the hazard caused by the product; (4) a number and description of injuries and deaths caused bythe product; (5) a description of available remedies and how to avail oneself of them; and (6) retailin<strong>for</strong>mation concerning the product. 245Finally, the FDA requires all manufacturers of all drugsmarketed under an approved FDA application to report tomandatory vendor reporting ofthe FDA all serious, unexpected adverse drug experiencesfailures to a searchable database associated with the use of their drug products. 246 The FDAmandates that the manufacturer submit to it, within fifteenwould incentivize those vendors days of learning of the adverse drug experience, a <strong>for</strong>m 247that contains: (1) a description (i.e., sex, age, weight,to enhance internal controls.height) of the patient that took the drug; (2) the outcomesattributed to the adverse event; (3) the date of the event;(4) the date of the report; (5) a description of the event; and (6) various in<strong>for</strong>mation regarding theproduct suspected to be the cause of the event. 248D. Key BenefitsMany of the benefits of mandatory vendor reporting of machine failures and vulnerabilities are the sameas those of the proposed database (e.g., assisting election officials in identifying and resolving problems,aggregating in<strong>for</strong>mation in a timely and organized manner, and allowing election officials to comparethe per<strong>for</strong>mance of voting systems); below we detail some additional benefits that are particular to theproposed vendor reporting requirements.Incentivizes Vendors to Enhance Internal ControlsVendors will presumably want to minimize the number of reports that they must make to the appropriategovernment agency. One way that they will be able to do this is by enhancing their own testing andinternal standards to avoid any late-stage defects that would trigger a requirement to make a report tothe appropriate government agency.Ensures Maximum Disclosure of In<strong>for</strong>mation by VendorsAs we detail above, Congress passed the TREAD Act and established these “early warning” reportingrequirements, in part, because investigations in the wake of the Firestone tire recall revealed that “bothFirestone and Ford knew that there were problems [with the tires] years be<strong>for</strong>e they told [NHTSA] or theAmerican public.” 249 The case studies in Part III of this report show that, at the very least, many electionofficials and other concerned citizens worry that voting system vendors have sometimes taken too longto acknowledge and publicize problems with their systems. This provision would require vendors to take34 | Brennan Center <strong>for</strong> Justice

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