ACCC issues surprising statistics with the new Australian Consumer Law mandatory reporting requirements

On 1 January 2011, mandatory reporting requirements came into effect under the product safety provisions of the Australian Consumer Law. How broadly these reporting requirements are to be interpreted has been the source of much confusion in the consumer goods industry. On 16 August 2011, the ACCC released statistics regarding the number of reports it had received and the number of recalls that the reporting requirements had triggered in the first half of 2011.  These statistics provide a useful insight into both how the industry is interpreting the mandatory reporting provisions, as well as the level of product recall triggered by mandatory reporting requirements to date.

Background