The United States Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against eBay alleging the c-commerce company has sold products that violate U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules.
In rejecting the allegations, eBay said the company already is working with law enforcement to block sales of prohibited and illegal products on its platform.
The Justice Department complaint alleges that eBay has sold and distributed products that violate the Clean Air Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. The justice department initiated the lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, located in Brooklyn. It accuses eBay of selling, offering for sale or causing the sale of more than 343,000 aftermarket defeat devices, which bypass motor vehicle emission controls, a violation of the CAA, as well as at least 23,000 unregistered, misbranded or restricted-use pesticide products ,and more than 5,600 items in violation of the TSCA Methylene Chloride Rule.
In response, eBay issued a statement:
Maintaining a safe and trusted marketplace for our global community of sellers and buyers is a fundamental principle of our business at eBay. 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% of the listings for the products cited by the DOJ, including millions of listings each year. And eBay has partnered closely with law enforcement, including the DOJ, for over two decades on identifying emerging risks and assisting with prevention and enforcement.
The Justice Department complaint requests a court order that declares eBay’s business practices as an e-commerce retailer violated the CAA, FIFRA and TSCA, and enjoins the company from further violating the laws cited. The Justice Department also is asking the court to order civil penalties for Clean Air Act violations.
