CPSC Regulatory Expert Stephen Lee Enforced the Rules From the Inside. Now He Helps Companies Get Them Right.
Stephen Lee is a CPSC regulatory expert who spent more than 11 years at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, enforcing federal product safety requirements, evaluating products, and answering thousands of compliance questions from businesses. At Neal Cohen Law, he works alongside the firm’s lawyers to help manufacturers, importers, and marketplace sellers understand exactly what the CPSC requires and how the agency evaluates products.
Chemistry
THE COMPLIANCE OFFICER WHO USED TO SIT ON THE OTHER SIDE
When the CPSC evaluates your product, a compliance officer is doing the evaluating. Stephen did that job. He conducted compliance and enforcement work across fireworks, hazardous chemicals, child-resistant packaging, liquid nicotine, children’s products and toys, art materials, all-terrain vehicles, durable infant and toddler products, apparel, furniture, and button cell and coin batteries. He reviewed the technical documentation, applied the test requirements, and worked on the enforcement programs involving many of the same product categories companies now ask this firm about.
Then he spent three years on the CPSC’s Small Business Ombudsman team, the same office Neal Cohen once led. Stephen answered thousands of regulatory inquiries from businesses, helped develop hundreds of the compliance guidance pages on the CPSC’s website, and maintained the agency’s Regulatory Robot. Neal built that tool in 2016. Years later, Stephen helped keep it current.
That combination matters. The firm’s lawyers know how the CPSC thinks. Stephen knows how the CPSC tests, evaluates, and enforces, product by product and regulation by regulation. And with a master’s degree in chemistry, Stephen brings a scientific foundation to technical compliance questions that few regulatory professionals have.
Stephen worked with the testing rules, certification requirements, and technical documentation the CPSC checks. He helps clients get them right the first time.
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From FHSA labeling to child-resistant packaging under the PPPA, Stephen enforced the chemical-side rules most companies never see coming.
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Stephen presented the CPSC’s own webinar on Reese’s Law and enforced button cell and coin battery requirements at the agency.
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE WARNING LABELS, REVIEWED BY SOMEONE WHO DID IT FOR THE CPSC
DANGER. WARNING. “HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED.” “CAUSES EYE IRRITATION.” The warnings on bleach, cleaning products, and craft supplies are governed by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), and getting them wrong can mean a violation, a detained shipment, or a recall.
As a CPSC regulatory expert, Stephen spent more than 10 years at the CPSC reviewing hazardous substance warnings and applying the FHSA and its regulations at 16 C.F.R. Part 1500. His work included evaluating product compliance, reviewing labeling, assessing hazardous substance classifications, and analyzing the requirements for household chemicals, fireworks, art materials, and other FHSA-regulated products.
He has worked with manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers, and has taught FHSA requirements through public presentations, webinars, and training sessions. At Neal Cohen Law, he works under the direction of the firm’s attorneys to help clients get labels right before products ship and fix labeling problems when they surface.
What Stephen reviews:
- Hazardous substance classification: toxic, corrosive, irritant, flammable, sensitizer
- Signal words, hazard statements, precautionary instructions, and other labeling requirements
- Special labeling for art materials, fireworks, charcoal bags, and others
- Labeling for special packaging under the PPPA
CORROSIVE. CAUSES SEVERE EYE DAMAGE.
See back panel for additional cautionary labeling.
HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED.
CAUSES EYE IRRITATION.
INSIDE THE CPSC: 11 YEARS OF ENFORCEMENT AND GUIDANCE
Stony Brook University & NIH
B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from Stony Brook University. Graduate Studies in epidemiology at the National Institutes of Health, 2004 to 2015.
CPSC Compliance Officer (2015)
Joined the Division of Regulatory Enforcement. Conducted compliance and enforcement work on fireworks, hazardous chemicals, special packaging, liquid nicotine, children's products and toys, and art materials.
Federal Register Contact (2018)
Named in the Federal Register as the CPSC Office of Compliance contact for the Commission's engineered wood products rule affecting children's products testing.
Restricted-Flow Test Method (2019)
Helped develop the CPSC's test method for restricted-flow liquid nicotine packaging and served as the agency's named contact for the testing guidance.
Small Business Ombudsman Team (2022)
Answered thousands of regulatory inquiries, helped develop hundreds of CPSC business guidance pages, and maintained the agency's Regulatory Robot.
Return to Enforcement (2025)
Expanded enforcement portfolio including all-terrain vehicles, durable infant and toddler products, apparel, furniture, mattresses, and button cell and coin batteries. Served in acting supervisory compliance staff roles.
Today: CPSC Regulatory Expert
Stephen joined Neal Cohen Law, bringing more than a decade of hands-on CPSC compliance and enforcement experience to the firm's clients.
TEACHING INDUSTRY HOW THE CPSC WORKS
- Presenter, “Breaking Down Reese’s Law,” CPSC webinar on button cell and coin battery requirements (2024)
- Speaker, ICPHSO Annual Meetings and Training Workshops (2023, 2024, 2025)
- Plenary panelist, “Reese’s Purpose: When a Product Safety Concern Becomes a Product Safety Requirement,” ICPHSO (2025)
- Presenter, CPSC overview webinar on the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (2024)
- Presenter, American Pyrotechnics Association Winter Education Conference (2024)
- Co-presenter, CPSC webinars on the clothing storage unit safety standard (2023) and art materials at import (2022)
STEPHEN'S Background
Stephen received his B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from Stony Brook University and served at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from 2015 to 2026 as a Compliance Officer in the Division of Regulatory Enforcement and as a Program Specialist on the Small Business Ombudsman team. His CPSC service was recognized with multiple agency honors, including Innovation Team Awards and a Meritorious Service Award. Today he serves as the firm’s CPSC regulatory expert.
Stephen is not an attorney and does not provide legal advice. He works under the direction of the firm’s lawyers, adding technical, scientific, and regulatory depth to every matter.
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