Washington ? One of the nation’s top safety officials is putting manufacturers on notice: Comply with new rules aimed at keeping children’s products safe, or face the potential of big fines.

Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said Tuesday that her agency will get new enforcement tools next month — and she plans to use them in order to protect consumers, especially children.

Come Aug. 14, the maximum civil penalty the agency could impose for violations increases significantly, from $1.8 million to $15 million.

“Those, if the circumstances warrant it and the facts support it, will be used by the CPSC to make sure that people comply with that law,” Tenenbaum said in an interview with Associated Press reporters and editors.

The new law, called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act or CPSIA, was intended to keep lead away from children by banning the metal, except in small amounts, from products for kids 12 years and under. Lead can cause irreversible brain damage.

“I plan to enforce the CPSIA,” said Tenenbaum, who recently took the helm at the agency. “We will follow the statute,” she said.