Consumer Affairs Victoria will continue with product safety proceedings against Dimmeys Stores Pty Ltd and others, after the Federal Court upheld the Director’s right to take legal action in that court.
Acting Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria Phil D’Adamo welcomed today’s ruling by Justice Marshall, upholding the Director’s standing to bring proceedings for contravention of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) in the Federal Court.
Counsel for Dimmeys Stores Pty Ltd and the other respondents, argued that the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria, as the regulator under the ACL (Victoria), did not have standing to bring proceedings for an injunction under the ACL, in the Federal Court, and therefore that court did not have jurisdiction to hear and determine the Director’s application.
Justice Marshall in rejecting this argument said "It is often the case, as the Director alleges here, that breaches of the ACL may also involve breaches of materially identical provisions in broadly equivalent State Acts. It would be part of achieving the purposes of the State Act to bring proceedings that not only invoke that Act but also rely on the ACL."
"The case against Dimmeys Stores Pty Ltd and others, which alleges breaches of product safety laws, in Victoria and New South Wales, is the first case Consumer Affairs Victoria has taken in the Federal Court of Australia," Mr D’Adamo said.
"Consumer Affairs Victoria alleges that Dimmeys and Starite Distributers Pty Ltd breached product safety laws through the supply, offer to supply or possession for business purposes of over 18,000 items of girls' padded swimwear, baby bath squeeze toy sets, cosmetics sets and basketball rings."
The girls' padded swimwear do not meet labelling requirements under flotation aid safety standards, the squeeze toys pose a choking hazard, the cosmetics sets do not label ingredients as prescribed by the Cosmetics Information Standard, and the basketball rings did not include warnings required under the Basketball Rings Standard.
Dimmeys has previously contravened product safety laws on four occasions and Starite once before. The Director also alleges that Mr Douglas Zappelli, a Director of both Dimmeys and Starite, was involved in those alleged contraventions.
The ruling also means that the Federal Court will be able to decide on both contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law and its Victorian counterpart, the Australian Consumer Law (Victoria).
"This is a great boost to the Victorian Government objective in signing up to the national Australian Consumer Law, of taking a national approach to enforcement and taking coordinated and effective action to stamp out unfair practices and enforce the new product safety regime," Mr D’Adamo said.
The ruling confirms the Director’s power, to enforce effectively the Australian Consumer Law and other Consumer Acts in Victoria, is enhanced by the shift to the national framework from 1 January 2011.
Contact details
Consumer Affairs Victoria enquiries: 1300 55 81 81