The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission obtained declarations and injunctions in the Federal Court, Perth, today to settle actions against two importers of sunglasses and fashion spectacles, Monza Imports Pty Ltd and Apollo Optical (Aust) Pty Ltd.
The court declared in consent orders that Monza breached the Trade Practices Act 1974 by supplying sunglasses, the SPY ISIS brand of sunglasses, which did not comply with the consumer product safety standard for sunglasses and fashion spectacles, to retailers in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
In separate consent orders, the court declared that Apollo also breached the Act by supplying the CAB55 002 model of fashion spectacles, which did not comply with the Standard, to retailers in WA, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania.
The SPY ISIS sunglasses and CAB 55 002 fashion spectacles failed to comply with the Standard as the lenses of both were too small, not meeting the minimum 30 mm diameter field of view requirement.
As part of the settlements, Monza and Apollo each consented to court orders:
- restraining them from engaging in similar conduct in the future
- requiring them to provide refunds to customers and retailers who return the sunglasses/fashion spectacles to them
- requiring them to publish product safety notices in certain newspapers and/or magazines and place in-store notices in stores where the sunglasses were sold alerting consumers to the sunglasses and fashion spectacles' failure to meet the Standard's field of view requirements and requesting that consumers return the product to the retailer and/or Monza or Apollo for a full refund
- requiring that they implement a trade practices compliance program
- to pay an agreed amount towards the ACCC's legal costs
"Mandatory product safety and information standards provide protection for consumers by specifying minimum requirements that must be met before certain products are sold", Acting ACCC Chairman, Mr Rod Shogren, said today.
"All suppliers, whether at the import, wholesale or retail level, must ensure that their goods and services meet relevant mandatory product safety and information standards".
The ACCC views non-compliance with the mandatory product safety standard for sunglasses very seriously given that the most important safety feature of sunglasses is their capacity to block ultra violet radiation, thereby reducing the risk of damage to eyesight.
"In this case, both suppliers cooperated with the ACCC by taking immediate steps to notify all retailers to withdraw the sunglasses and spectacles from sale as soon as the non-compliance was brought to their attention".
Consumers who have bought the SPY ISIS brand of sunglasses or the CAB 55 002 model of fashion spectacles should contact Monza or Apollo, respectively, or their retailer to arrange for the return of the spectacles and a refund.