Minister for Fair Trading Anthony Roberts today welcomed agreement from the Commonwealth and all state and territory ministers that product safety bans will continue to be utilised to prevent the sale of dangerous synthetic drug products.

“This agreement will help to ensure that synthetic drugs will not return to the shelves of retailers anywhere in Australia,” Mr Roberts said.

At the Consumer Affairs Forum (CAF) chaired by Mr Roberts in Sydney today, ministers discussed the issue of synthetic drugs noting recent developments including the use of interim banning powers under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) to assist in controlling the sale of these products.

“Ministers committed to ensuring that synthetic drugs will not be legally sold by retailers, now and in the future as governments move to more comprehensively tackle the scourge of synthetic drugs.”

Mr Roberts outlined the results of NSW Fair Trading’s compliance operations in relation to synthetic drugs since he announced an interim ban on a range of products last month.

“Fair Trading officers have inspected more than 1,044 retailers and found a 94% compliance rate with the interim ban.

“The feedback from retailers was that fear of the penalties available under the ACL are the key reason they have stopped selling these potentially harmful products.”

The penalties for defying a product safety ban under the ACL are fines of $220,000 for an individual or $1.1 million for a corporation.

Mr Roberts said tackling the scourge of synthetic drugs will continue to require state and federal governments, consumer regulators, law enforcement agencies and Customs working together to prevent the flow of harmful synthetic drug products into the country and across state borders.

“By working together we can spread the message that these products can cause serious harm or death.”

The ministers agreed that in order to effectively prohibit the sale of synthetic drugs it is important that state and territories, where necessary, make amendments to ensure that Schedule 9 of the Poisons Standard is incorporated into their legislation.

Mr Roberts said the NSW Government is developing a comprehensive response to the NSW Legal Affairs Committee Report on Synthetic Drugs tabled in the NSW Parliament on 30 May 2013.

“We are moving quickly to provide a comprehensive response to the emerging issue of synthetic drugs and will do all we can to protect the people of NSW,” he said.

“I urge anyone who knows someone using synthetic drugs to warn them of the risk they are taking and where necessary, assist them in seeking help.”

Contact details

NSW Fair trading enquiries: 13 32 20