Our core product safety functions
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent Commonwealth statutory authority. Our role is to administer and enforce the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and other legislation.
In product safety, our role is to address the risk of serious injury, serious illness and death from safety hazards in
consumer products.
We assess and help manage consumer product safety risks
We use an intelligence-led approach to assess consumer product safety risks.
We are informed by:
- mandatory reports of serious illness, injury or death
- recalls that have taken place internationally
- information received from the community and other regulators.
We work with other Australian Consumer Law regulators and specialist product safety regulators to manage these risks. For more information about the regulators we work with, see the product safety system.
We oversee mandatory standards, bans and consumer product recalls
We:
- negotiate the recall of unsafe goods
- make recommendations for regulatory action by the Minister, including to make standards and bans, or issue compulsory recalls or safety warning notices
- introduce or work to implement changes to existing mandatory standards and bans
- take compliance and enforcement action in accordance with the ACCC compliance and enforcement policy and priorities.
We also manage risk, advocate and educate
We have a role in advocating and informing others about product safety risks and rules.
We:
- educate industry and consumers, including through safety warnings
- advocate for law reform and to clarify roles and responsibilities within the product safety regulatory framework
- work collaboratively with other Australian Consumer Law regulators and specialist product safety regulators to manage risk.
Product safety priorities
The product safety priorities are part of a broader plan of priorities the ACCC sets each year.
The ACCC product safety priorities identify:
- our annual set of priorities for consumer product safety
- the principles we apply for prioritising and addressing product safety risks.
For more information, see our product safety priorities and how we identify and prioritise product safety risks.
See also
About the ACCC
Compliance and enforcement policy and priorities