Product safety for online sellers

Four duties, in the regulator’s words

The ACCC expects every online business in the supply chain, whatever its place in it, to follow Australian product safety laws, and lists what those laws require:

“comply with Australian mandatory safety standards; not supply banned products; report the death or the serious injury or illness of a person resulting from a consumer product you supplied; recall a product if it’s a safety hazard, it doesn’t comply with a mandatory standard, or it’s banned.”

ACCC Product Safety, How to sell safe products online

Mandatory standards

A mandatory standard sets out the safety or information features that are compulsory for a product to be supplied legally in Australia. There are two kinds. Safety standards set minimum requirements a product must meet before it is supplied, and are made when that is reasonably necessary to prevent or reduce the risk of injury. Information standards make sure buyers have important information about a product, and need not be about safety at all: ingredient labelling for cosmetics and care labelling for clothing are the regulator’s examples.

The line between mandatory and voluntary matters. It is an offence to supply goods that don’t comply with a mandatory standard, while it is not illegal to supply a product that doesn’t meet a voluntary one. Not every product has a mandatory standard: bans and mandatory standards are made only where the evidence points to a high risk of serious injury, serious illness or death. Children are particularly vulnerable because they usually can’t notice hazards, which is why most mandatory standards aim to protect babies and children.

One standard up close: button and coin batteries

Button and coin batteries, and products containing them, are covered by 4 mandatory safety and information standards. They cover how the batteries, products and packaging must be designed and tested, and the warnings and safety information that must come with them. Three details stand out for an online shop:

• The standards include new and second-hand goods sold to consumers.
• A retailer counts as a supplier, alongside manufacturers, importers and distributors.
• If you’re not sure whether a product is a consumer good, the regulator’s advice is to assume it falls under these standards unless you have different legal advice.

Bans

A ban can be placed on a product or a product-related service if there is a risk of serious injury, serious illness or death. Once something is banned, it is against the law to supply it or offer to supply it, and also to manufacture, possess or have control of it.

Before a product goes up: the regulator’s checklist

The ACCC’s guidance for selling through an online shop comes down to six habits:

• Block products that don’t follow Australian product safety regulations from being sold in Australia.
• Source from manufacturers and suppliers who follow those regulations.
• Check which products are banned from sale in Australia.
• Share safety information, in appropriate languages: warnings, labels, age-grading on children’s products, descriptions, good quality images, and ingredients lists, especially for cosmetics and toiletries.
• List contact details clearly in case of safety problems.
• Subscribe to updates on changes to consumer product safety laws.

When something you sold turns out to be unsafe

1. Straight away

   Stop selling the product, and tell affected customers about the safety concern. The regulator’s advice is not to wait: people should be alerted about unsafe products as quickly as possible.

2. Within 2 days of a recall

   Tell the ACCC within 2 days of taking recall action. This is a legal requirement, and failing to notify may result in a penalty. It applies when a consumer product is recalled for safety reasons. If the second day falls on a weekend or public holiday, the form is due by the end of the next business day.

3. Within 2 days of learning of an injury

   Submit a mandatory report within 2 days of becoming aware of a death, serious injury or illness associated with a consumer product you supplied, whether or not it has been recalled. Word of it can come from a customer, the news or social media, a repairer, an insurer, an expert’s report or a government agency. A serious injury or illness here is an acute physical injury or illness needing “medical or surgical treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner or a nurse.”

4. Within 10 days, if sold overseas

   If you recall a product you also supplied to people outside Australia, tell them in writing, as soon as practical, that it is being recalled in Australia and why, then give a copy of that notice to the Commonwealth Minister within 10 days of telling them.

The deadlines are enforced. In February 2016 one retailer was fined $3.057 million for knowingly selling unsafe goods, and $57,000 of that related to failing to lodge 8 mandatory reports on time. Even where a report is not legally required, the ACCC strongly encourages voluntary reporting, including of incidents that could have caused harm but did not.

An unsafe product is also a consumer guarantee matter: the ACCC lists “is unsafe” first among the signs of a major problem, which the refunds and returns guide covers. With the product listed safely, the order moves on to payment, and the card surcharge rules at the checkout.