Consumer product safety compliance advice

Product safety pyramidGail Greatorex

New mandatory labelling standard – Toppling furniture

A major new mandatory labelling standard under the Australian Consumer Law comes into effect on 4 May 2025. The Consumer Goods (Toppling Furniture) Information Standard 2024 aims to reduce injuries from toppling household furniture.…
Product safety compliance officer day
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Happy Compliance Officer Day 2024

26 September is international Compliance Officer Day. Yes, it’s a thing. Working away behind the scenes are thousands of people whose job it is to not just check that the letter of regulations are met, but also the spirit. In consumer…
Button batteries border check

Button battery safety regulations : Are they working?

More than 100 products have been recalled in Australia for breaches of the mandatory safety standards on button batteries!  Next week marks two years since the standards were mandated. Yet there have still been more than 40 products…
Soccer goal safety
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Soccer goal safety across Australia

3 minute read I recently took a walk on a warm autumn afternoon, ending up at a local park. Dogs, kids and teenagers were out enjoying the sunshine. But I was dismayed to find, dotted across the park, more than a dozen soccer goals not…
Celebrate compliance officer day

Where would you be without compliance? Celebrate Compliance Officer Day

 4 - minute read Compliance Officer Day is celebrated on 26 September each year. This year it falls on a Saturday, so you might like to take a moment before then to acknowledge your product safety compliance manager and…
Care labelling standard
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Do we really need to regulate garment care labelling?

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has asked whether to keep, modify or revoke the mandatory standard for care labelling of apparel and household textiles. I support revocation, as I believe having a regulation for garment…
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Regulation commencement dates

  “The regulation takes effect on 1 January.”   “So, who will be at work to implement this? Or to enforce it?” and “What work is needed during December to gear up for implementation?”     1…
Lego Toy

The Qantas Magnetic Toy Case – Interview with Ian Anderson

Ian Anderson was a key witness in the Qantas case. After Consumer Affairs Victoria successfully ran court action against Qantas and its supplier Alpha, I visited key witness Ian to talk to him about what happened. In this interview, Ian…
Lego Toy

Qantas and the Banned Magnet Toys

 Qantas and its duty free supplier fined for selling banned toys Perhaps the last place you would expect banned toy magnets to be on sale is on an aeroplane. But that’s what happened in 2013 and both Qantas and its duty free supplier,…
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Toy age guidelines – lessons from Lego and The Simpsons

Age guidelines on toys - lots of people assume the age listed on a toy is only to indicate how bright a child is