Major Consumer Law Changes Bring New Reporting Requirement for Product Safety Incidents

A new notification requirement for suppliers where consumer goods have caused (or may have caused) death or serious injury/illness has been introduced by the new Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Bill (No. 2) 2010. The Bill passed Parliament on 24 June 2010 and is awaiting royal assent.

The new requirement is onerous, with suppliers only having two days from becoming aware of a death or serious injury/illness in which to report it. Everyone in the supply chain will need to review their internal reporting systems swiftly.

This represents a major shift away from the current system, in which the only general reporting requirement is to notify recalls after the recall has been initiated. Instead of a system where product safety incidents are largely investigated and managed by suppliers (as is currently the case), it is now likely that there will be greater involvement by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") from the earliest