SAFETY Act Decreases Private Sector Risk And Liability

An often overlooked law passed in the wake of 9-11 can provide risk and liability protection for both end users and developer/sellers of anti-terrorism technology. Recent media coverage “has not adequately described the SAFETY Act or explained the important role it plays in the United States’ overall homeland security efforts,” write the authors of this Today’s General Counsel article. Attorney and former U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman; former AG of Connecticut Clarine Nardi Riddle; and special counsel Mark J. Robertson, all from the law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, explain why in-house counsel and risk managers should take a close look at the “Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies” Act. The law works by enabling the seller to apply to the Department of Homeland Security for approval of its anti-terrorism technology. If it’s granted, approval becomes both marketing badge and liability protection for the seller, but it also provides protection against civil liability to the buyer.