Product safety & standards

If you are a supplier or manufacturer you have an obligation to ensure that you market only safe products. You must ensure that your products meet relevant safety standards, provide clear instructions for proper use and include warnings against possible misuse. If you don't comply with mandatory standards, you risk action being taken against you under the Trade Practices Act.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) enforces mandatory product safety and information standards and bans on unsafe goods declared under the Trade Practices Act. Fair trading offices also have an important role in product safety within their own states.

Product safety
Product suppliers and manufacturers have an obligation to ensure that only safe products are marketed, by:

• providing clear instructions for use, including warnings against possible misuse
• being aware of and meeting industry and mandatory standards
• developing product recall plans and procedures including effective communication strategies to the public (eg advertisements in papers)
• incorporating safety into product design
• developing appropriate safety standards through product improvement
• implementing a quality assurance program which includes consumer feedback
• responding quickly to safety concerns that arise.

Mandatory product standards
A standard can be made mandatory by either a trade practices regulation or a notice published in the Commonwealth Gazette. The gazette notice will refer to a published Australian Standard and may contain variations to that standard. Suppliers must refer to both the gazette notice and the Australian standard it refers to.

There are two types of mandatory product standards:

• Safety standards - goods must comply with particular performance, composition, contents, methods of manufacture or processing, design, construction, finish or packaging rules.
• Information standards - prescribed information must be given to consumers when they purchase specified goods (e.g. labelling for cosmetics, tobacco products and care labelling for clothing and textile products).