About Australia’s product safety system
The Australian product safety system relies on consumers, businesses and government working together to stay informed and manage the safety of goods.
The ACCC is an independent Commonwealth statutory agency. We promote competition, fair trading and product safety for the benefit of consumers, businesses and the Australian community.
The Australian Consumer Law is set out in a schedule to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It governs consumer protection and fair trading, including the safety of consumer goods.
Regulation and administration of the Australian Consumer Law is a shared responsibility between the ACCC and state and territory regulators.
State and territory regulators support the product safety priorities. These priorities may change each year
Our core functions
As well as the product safety priorities, the ACCC has core functions, which are important ongoing activities.
We:
- negotiate, assess and monitor the effectiveness of voluntary recalls and communicate product safety risks to consumers
- review and update mandatory safety standards and bans for high-risk products and conduct surveillance
- conduct hazard assessments of emerging product safety issues, including monitoring safety hazards associated with new technologies
- engage with key stakeholders on product safety, focusing on education about any new safety standards introduced
- advocate for reform to improve the effectiveness of the product safety framework
- improve product safety data by exploring data solutions. This includes examining other data sources to build on the product safety data we have already collected
- where appropriate, taking enforcement action for non-compliance with product safety obligations.
Identifying and managing risk
Identify risk
To identify product safety hazards and assess the size of the risk, we use data from a range of sources. This includes:
- consumer reports made to the ACCC through our Infocentre
- mandatory reports made by businesses
- voluntary recalls and supplier reports
- market surveillance to identify non-compliant or unsafe products
- information from Australian Consumer Law and international regulators
- networks of consumer, business, government, and other organisations, including injury surveillance groups
- media monitoring of news sources and other government or organisation publications.
Prioritise risk
We can’t pursue all product safety matters that come to our attention.
When we identify a risk, we use priority factors to determine the level of risk and any interventions that may be required.
The priority factors are:
- there is a high risk to public safety due to the severity and/or number of injuries that may result from the product, for example an unsafe product likely to cause death or significant harm, or being widely available to consumers
- users are unable to perceive or safeguard against the risk of the product, such as where it is difficult to detect the safety risk or identify a link between the product and possibility of injury
- the product is targeted at vulnerable users, such as children
- users of the product potentially expose other people to the risk of death or injury
- the product is subject to a safety standard, compulsory recall, ban or safety warning under the Australian Consumer Law
- ACCC action is likely to have a broader public benefit. For example, where action is likely to deter or educate, or the source of harm is likely to become widespread if the ACCC doesn’t intervene.
We also prioritise product safety risks where there is widespread community concern. For these matters, we carry out initial enquiries to assess whether the product safety risk meets the priority factors.
When we assess the likelihood and severity of injury, we consider reports of past incidents in Australia and overseas.
We also draw on market surveillance and expert technical advice to identify emerging risks and respond quickly to prevent deaths and injuries.
Manage risk
We manage risk using different strategies.
Regulation under the Australian Consumer Law
We are responsible for making recommendations to the Commonwealth Minister on safety standards, bans, compulsory recalls, safety warning notices and information standards.
We are also responsible for administering voluntary recall notices.
Compliance and enforcement under the Australian Consumer Law
The ACCC and Australian Consumer Law regulators are responsible for:
- educating traders about the Australian Consumer Law rules about the consumer guarantee of acceptable quality, including the safety and liability for products with safety defects
- enforcing Australian Consumer Law rules prohibiting false or misleading representations, including how the safety of a product is represented
- raising awareness of, monitoring and enforcing compliance with product safety obligations and regulatory interventions under the Australian Consumer Law. This includes compulsory recalls, mandatory safety standards and product bans.
Working with other Australian regulators
Different government agencies are responsible for regulating the safety of specific types of products such as motor vehicles, food, building materials, medicines and therapeutic goods, tobacco, and electrical and gas appliances.
When a product doesn’t easily fit within the scope of a particular regulator, agencies will work together to find the best way to manage its safety.
International cooperation
We work with international counterparts to identify and address emerging product safety risks.
How we address product safety risks
We draw on a range of strategies to address consumer harm, as outlined in the Compliance and Enforcement Policy. This includes:
- working with industry to manage risk, including through voluntary recalls
- compliance activities such as education and campaigns, industry engagement, research and advocacy, and working with small business to improve product safety awareness
- enforcement action such as administrative resolutions, infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and court cases
- research activities and market studies
- working with other agencies.
We also make recommendations to the Commonwealth Minister to:
- publish a safety warning notice that a particular product is under investigation or warning of possible risks of a product
- make an information standard requiring certain information to be supplied with the product
- make a safety standard setting out requirements for the product
- make an interim or permanent ban on the product
- require businesses to recall the product.
In performing this work, we are governed by the principles set out in the Compliance and Enforcement Policy. These are accountability, transparency, confidentiality, timeliness, proportionality, and fairness.
- The ACCC’s response should be efficient and effective in managing the risk.
- The ACCC’s response, including the compliance burden imposed on business, should be proportionate to the risk.
- A regulatory response should, in general, avoid restricting consumer choice or limiting technological solutions. However, in some cases, the most appropriate option to address a risk will be to ban the product or mandate standards for design, manufacture or particular information to be supplied with the product.
- The ACCC reviews its priorities each year as part of its Compliance and Enforcement Policy.