News

The ACCC is urging businesses who supply button batteries, or products that are powered by them, to ensure they are complying with the new button battery safety standards ahead of the laws becoming mandatory on 22 June. The ACCC is also calling on consumers to check for unsafe button battery products in their homes.

The ACCC is urging parents to ensure Apple AirTags are kept out of the reach of young children, as the ACCC has raised safety concerns with Apple about the accessibility and security of the button battery inside the product.

The ACCC has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to improve the safety of button batteries by introducing new safety regulations.

Consumer household products with button batteries, including children’s toys, should have secure battery safety compartments, child resistant packaging and clear information and warning labels, under proposed new mandatory standards put forward by the ACCC for consultation.

The ACCC has established a Button Battery Taskforce to investigate ways to reduce risk to the Australian community, particularly children, of button batteries.

Chairman Rod Sims today announced the ACCC’s product safety priorities for 2018 at the National Consumer Congress in Sydney, and reaffirmed support for a general safety provision to be introduced in Australia law to reduce the risk of unsafe goods entering the market.

As millions of Australians rush to finish their Christmas shopping and fill the stockings of loved ones they should be cautious about the gifts they buy and receive for children.

With the overall objective of reducing incidents of child exposure to button batteries, a National Strategy has been developed by all Australian Consumer Law (ACL) regulators, with the ACCC playing a coordinating role.

Stationery and toy retailer Smiggle has removed a button battery-powered yo-yo from stores in WA, and across Australia, to protect children from injury or death.

Christmas will come early for importers and wholesalers of children’s toys, with NSW Fair Trading embarking on an early compliance blitz on dangerous products in coming weeks.