News
With the end of the year many of us are taking leave, but the consumer world never stops and, especially for product safety purposes (or to make sure the consumer voice is heard in consultations), it can be important to keep an eye out for news. Below are some websites which may have important consumer…
Read More Resources for Consumer News, Safety, and Emergency Services
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Microplastics are filling up our oceans, turning up everywhere from Antarctic ice sheets to the depths of ocean trenches. Unfortunately it is very hard to quantify the amount of microplastics entering our oceans, as these tiny particles are hard to track, what we do know is that any amount of these plastics can be dangerous…
Read More New Microplastics Standard Open for Comment
Consumer Protection
Commonwealth, State, Territory and New Zealand Consumer Affairs Ministers met on Tuesday 10 December 2024 to renew their commitment to strengthen consumer protections across the country. Ministers attending the meeting, chaired by Commonwealth Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, acknowledged the substantial progress on key reforms to the Australian Consumer Law over the past year, including work to strengthen…
Read More Consumer Affairs Ministers Set 2025 Agenda, Consumer Protection to remain at the forefront
SAFETY
Child-resistant packaging is used to create a physical barrier between a child and a potentially hazardous product. Various types of packaging are recognized as being child-resistant, based on performance testing against standards for specific product categories and packaging types. Since this type of packaging was introduced, the incidence of accidental ingestion of potentially hazardous products…
Read More Child-Resistant Packaging – Draft Standard Open for Public Comment
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The ACCC is currently holding consultations for RSPCA Australia’s newly lodged certified trade marks (CTMs). From the ACCC: The marks are intended to indicate that products marked with the RSPCA certified CTMs have been produced under the RSPCA Certified Scheme. According to RSPCA Australia, the RSPCA Certified Scheme is: “a farm animal welfare certification scheme…
Read More RSPCA Re-Brand Farming Welfare Certification Scheme
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The ACCC is putting businesses on notice that it is focusing in on problematic advertising practices which target participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The ACCC has been working with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to identify advertising which may be in breach of the Australian…
Read More ACCC Warns NDIS Providers Against Misleading Advertising
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The Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia is conducting an inquiry and report on energy, food and water security in the north of Australia. Submissions are currently open to the public and will close on 31st January 2025. The availability (including cost availability) is of great concern to all consumers, but especially to those living…
Read More Energy, Food and Water Security in Northern Australia
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In an open letter to Health Ministers, CFA and many other organisations have called for action to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy food by: A copy of the letter is available here
Read More CFA Supports Call for Action to Protect Children from Unhealthy Food Marketing
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ACCAN has today welcomed the decisive action by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in holding Optus to account and issuing a $12 million fine for risking the welfare of hundreds of consumers during the widespread outage of November 2023. This latest fine signals the need for the company and its new CEO, Steven…
Read More Optus Fined Over 2023 Outage Impacting Triple Zero
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The NSW Government is seeking feedback on a draft Information Standard for e-micromobility products under the Fair Trading Regulation 2019 (the Regulation). E-micromobility products include e-scooters, e-bikes, e-skateboards, self-balancing hoverboards and their associated chargers. The following documents are available for feedback: The Information Standard complements the product quality requirements that will be in place from next year. These controls aim to…
Read More NSW Lithium-Ion Battery Information Standard Feedback
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The ACCC will conduct a series of public hearings from 7 to 22 November as part of its ongoing Supermarkets Inquiry. The public hearings will be livestreamed via the ACCC website and will be an opportunity for the ACCC to gain a more complete understanding of the key issues in the retail grocery sector and its…
Read More Public Hearings for Supermarket Inquiry to be Livestreamed
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Following the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth.), industry associations have been tasked with developing codes of practice to protect Australians from a number of materials online. The draft codes for phase two, covering Classes 1C and 2 materials, have now been released and are available for public comment here. Consultation will be open from October…
Read More Consultation Opens on ‘Phase Two’ of Online Safety Codes
