Could the product you sell injure someone?
Recently there has been a big story worldwide about the recall thousands of toys by Mattel due to some safety concerns for some of their children’s toy range.
As a Importer, Wholesaler or Retailer it is your duty to ensure that the product you are selling complies with relevant safety mandates, or even if there is no mandate for a safety certification, as a good citizen and one that has to insure your business against risk (you do insure your business don’t you?) you should make sure your product is as safe as possible.
It isn’t easy to make sure your product complies sometimes, and in Australia it can be difficult to work out where to start.
So, where do you start?
What products need compliance?
Simply, any product that has a potential safety impact should comply with safety guidelines. If not in this country, then at least make sure it has complied with similar European or North American guidelines (ask your supplier for certification proof, and full test report if possible).
Some products sold in Australia need mandatory compliance to Australian safety standards.
Any product that I look to import and retail has to be considered for its safety risk to consumers, so products such as gas heaters, electrical items, baby goods etc need careful investigation.
Electrical Compliance (C-Tick approval)
Any electrical product that is sold in Australia needs to comply with EMC standards.
The process is fairly straight forward. You need to check the list of product groups and items to see what standard is required, then ensure that your product has been tested, or satisfies that standard.
In effect, this is self regulation, and leaves opportunity for sellers to take shortcuts, but you should do it properly. Get the proper testing done by a NATA laboratory (or lab overseas where the product is made) to the standard.
Apply for a C-Tick registration number (which is free), then put together a compliance folder for each item that you sell, with a C-Tick sticker attached.
Power Plugs
Any electrical device that plugs into 240v power must have insulated pins as part of mandatory standards introduced in 2005. You can read more about this standard here.
Testing labs
As I mentioned above, you can get your product tested at various labs around the country. Many laboratories can do tests for electrical safety, EMC testing for C-Tick and much more. They can also advise you on what aspects of your products need to be tested. Their turnaround times are reasonably fast, but if you are importing samples from overseas to get tested I would suggest looking for an accredited laboratory in the good’s country of origin first to see if you can save some time in getting goods tested before they are shipped to your location.
The cost for testing overseas might be about the same, but the cost saving in time to ship and pay for samples to be sent to you for testing can really add up.
More information
- Standards Australia Limited has all the Australian standards available for purchase online.
- Testing labs can be found by searching for ‘compliance testing‘ in Google for your relevant location.
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