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About mandatory standards
Mandatory standards specify the safety or information features that are compulsory for certain products, for their legal supply into the Australian market.
It is an offence to supply goods that do not comply with mandatory standards.
See a list of products that have mandatory standards.
Some products have industry standards, but these are voluntary to follow and cover other issues as well as safety.
A common misconception
People often think that all products sold in Australia must meet safety standards.
This isn’t correct. Mandatory standards and bans are only made when evidence shows a high risk of serious injury, serious illness or death related to a product.
Mandatory standard requirements
If a product has a mandatory standard, it must meet specific safety criteria before it can be sold in Australia. These can relate to:
- performance
- composition
- contents
- methods of manufacture or processing
- design
- construction
- finish
- packaging or labelling.
Safety standards
Mandatory safety standards specify minimum requirements that products must meet before they are supplied. They are introduced when it’s considered reasonably necessary to prevent or reduce the risk of injury to a person.
Information standards
Mandatory information standards make sure that consumers have important information about a product to help them decide whether to buy.
Information standards are not necessarily about the safety aspects of a product. For example, information standards may cover ingredient labelling for cosmetics or care labelling for clothing and textiles.
How to comply with mandatory standards
Suppliers must not supply products that don’t meet relevant mandatory standards.
A supplier is anyone in the business of supplying that product, including:
- manufacturers
- importers
- distributors
- retailers
- hirers.
Under the Australian Consumer Law, supply includes for:
- goods, including the resupply of goods – by sale, exchange, lease, hire or hire-purchase. It also includes re-supply of goods
- services – by providing, granting or conferring.
See a list of products that have mandatory standards.
What happens if you don’t comply
Complying with Australian product safety requirements isn’t just good business sense – it’s the law.
If you fail to comply with the mandatory standards requirements you may face enforcement action that attracts fines and penalties under the Australian Consumer Law.
Unsafe products can cause serious injuries to consumers, and in the worst cases lead to death. Children can be particularly vulnerable, as they are usually unable to notice hazards. This is why most mandatory standards aim to protect babies and children.
When safety issues arise, they can have a major impact on consumers and businesses.
Impact on your business
The impact on your business can be costly and result in:
- exposure to legal liability
- costs of repairs, replacements, or refunding consumers
- costs associated with product redesign
- a loss of business and reputation.
Impact on the community
Most businesses make sure their products follow Australian safety laws. The supply of unsafe or faulty products can result in:
- physical and psychological injury
- lost income from inability to work
- medical costs.
This can also have broader impacts on industry and the economy, resulting in a loss of consumer confidence.
Introducing a new mandatory standard
When deciding whether to introduce a mandatory standard, the Australian Government conducts research and consults with industry and consumer representatives.
As part of this process, government develops an impact analysis.
The impact analysis weighs up evidence of:
- current market forces influencing the product and market
- causes of potential dangers
- options for reducing the risk for consumers
- potential economic and social impact of regulatory and non-regulatory measures.
Voluntary standards
Voluntary standards have specifications and procedures to make sure products, services and systems are safe, reliable and perform as intended in a consistent way.
They may address a range of issues that are not safety related. It is not illegal to supply a product that does not meet a voluntary standard.
There is often a voluntary standard if experts already know how to fix safety problems. In these cases, the Australian Government may make all or part of the voluntary standard mandatory. It is illegal to supply a product that does not meet a mandatory standard.