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Winter is here and Consumers’ Federation of Australia representatives have contributed to standards that ensure the safety of products we use in winter. The standards are developed via the Standards Australia Technical Committee process. ACCC Top tips for winter product safety are: Never use boiling water to fill your hot water bottle and replace it…
Read More Tips for Winter Product Safety
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The laws that regulate the way in which measurement is marked on product packaging are under review. The Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation and Science is conducting the review as the authority responsible for trade measurement regulation. The National Trade Measurement Regulations 2009 Part 4 describe how the name and address of the manufacturer, as well as the weight of the…
Read More Product Measurement Labelling Laws Under Review
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The International Organization for Standardization (IOS) has published a new standard for Sustainable Procurement – ISO 20400 Sustainable procurement. The standard applies to the purchasing decisions made by organisations when they choose suppliers. It ensures that a company’s suppliers behave ethically, that the products and services purchased are sustainable and capable of meeting organisation and…
Read More Meet the First International Standard for Sustainable Procurement
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BABIES’ dummies and dummy chains will be subject to a single product safety standard following a review by the consumer watchdog, Small Business Minister Michael McCormack says. “Dummies and dummy chains are an essential part of the baby bag for any new parent or those with toddlers. Parents deserve the certainty to know the products…
Read More Simpler Standard for Baby Dummies and Dummy Chains
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Consumers have embraced the opportunities of e-commerce and now a new model is being heralded as the 4th information revolution. Consumers Federation of Australia has appointed a representative to the technical committee developing the new blockchain standard. Blockchain is a ground breaking technology for peer to peer transition platforms that uses decentralised storage to record…
Read More Blockchain and the Future for Consumers
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Financial Rights has today called on the general insurance industry to introduce a set of best practice standards for insurance investigations in its Code of Practice. This follows the release of the report titled Investigation of Claims and Outsourced Services by the insurance industry’s independent monitor – the General Insurance Code Governance Committee (CGC). The…
Read More Insurance Industry Must Act to Stamp Out Poor Investigation Practices
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National Volunteer Week is the largest celebration of volunteers and volunteerism in Australia, and provides an opportunity to highlight the role of volunteers in our community. Consumers’ Federation of Australia thanks the volunteer representatives on the CFA Standards Project for their time and expertise in the development of Australian Standards which makes the world a…
Read More Consumer Representatives and National Volunteer Week
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Consumer advocates have responded to the Australian Consumer Law Review conducted by Consumer Affairs Australia and New Zealand, noting some great wins for Australian consumers. Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC) CEO Gerard Brody said in a media release that there are some important changes on the horizon. ‘The Final Report proposes to make insurance contracts…
Read More Consumer Advocates Respond to ACL Review
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Consumer groups launch international survey of ticket resellers to address world-wide rorts CHOICE is leading a coalition of consumer groups in launching an international survey of the ticket resale market to stop consumers being ripped off by the likes of Viagogo, Stubhub and Ticketmaster Resale. “From outrageous ticket price mark-ups of up to 327% to…
Read More Ending the Ticket Rip-off
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement that it will fund a new broadband performance monitoring program to provide Australian consumers with accurate and independent information about broadband speeds. The program will use hardware-based devices to perform remote testing of around 4,000 households to determine typical speeds on fixed-line NBN…
Read More ACCC to monitor Australia’s broadband performance
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The Australian Banker’s Association (ABA) response to the Independent Review of the Code of Banking Practice (Khoury Review) is a positive start, but consumer advocates say there are some missed opportunities for the banking industry. Advocates say improving responsible lending assessments and making it easier to cancel credit cards will help Australians have a better…
Read More Progress on banking code, but missed opportunities too: consumer advocates
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Consumer Affairs Victoria is asking for feedback to help shape the laws that control how Victorians buy and sell property. A new options paper presents a range of possible reforms to modernise and improve Victoria’s 55-year-old Sale of Land Act 1962 (the Act). “Victoria’s property market is booming, and it’s essential the Sale of Land…
Read More Victoria considers prohibitions on rent-to-buy homes and residential vendor finance
