All businesses who supply products to Australian consumers must comply with Australian product safety laws as outlined by ACCC Product Safety.
Consumers Federation of Australia representative Gail Greatorex is a member of the Standards Australia Technical Committee which completed a review of four key parts of the product safety framework set of documents.
One of the key parts is the Product Safety Framework Part 1: Hazard assessment for product safety (SA HB 295.1:2016) which provides a practical guide for suppliers, to assist them in assessing the safety of general consumer products. It is designed to enhance the safe supply, sale and use of products. It can be applied to any product including new and existing products, as well as product designs and prototypes.
The objective of this latest edition is to encourage all those involved in the supply of consumer products (including designers, manufacturers, importers, retailers, product safety regulators, educators, injury prevention researchers and others) to use this Handbook to assess the safety of their products.
More information for Australian and overseas-based businesses that supply, or intend to supply, products to Australian consumers via the internet is available here.
CFA has representatives on over 50 Standards Australia Technical Committees as part of the CFA Standards Project; if you are interested in finding out more about the Project and/or becoming a volunteer CFA Standards Representative please contact the Standards Coordinator standards@consumeraction.org.au