Regulatory compliance, All Sellers Must Read

[cable_mart]

As an Australian manufacturer and distributor i would like to point out some of the laws which are required to be obeyed by if you are distributiing goods inside australia or from outside of australia in to local customers.

1. Electrical Compliance

All goods that are sold in australia that are electrical in nature must be certified for C-Tick standards, Which means your product must be approved prior to selling it in this country. Penalties start from $1320 per item sold and you may be liable for criminal prosecution under part 4 of the crimes act (deception offences)

Items include: Household electrical goods, Power Tools, Car Entertainment items (stereos,dvd players, screen etc)

2. Telecommunications Compliance.

All items that have the ability to directly or indirectly connect to a public switched telephone network MUST be tested and certified prior to being sold in this country (A-Tick). Penalties start from $1320 per item and up to $13,200 if found to be of commercial quantity. penalties also include being prosecuted by deception offences under the crimes act.

Items include, cabling products, networking products, wireless products, modems/routers etc

Here is a scenario as to why you should never supply illegal goods to customers:

A Customer purchases a toaster off ebay,and the toaster appears to work well. Whilst the customer is away from home, the toaster has an insulation fault and the toaster catches fire due to arcing wires. As a result the customers home burns down.

Fire inspectors find the toaster to be the cause of the fire and the insurance assessors researches the toaster and finds it was a non compliant item. The insurance company refuses to pay the insurance because the customers policy was voided because they were using illegal items.

As a result your customer is out of a home, they now have to sue you as a seller and also take action in the criminal court, you end up losing your assets and possibly do jail time all for a toaster.

on average i am finding between 20-50 sellers a day which are not complying with the relevant laws, The Australian Communications & Media Authority has a form for complaints of non compliance:

http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/equipment-compliance-and-labelling-complaints

In order to learn more about compliance, See www.acma.gov.au or www.erac.gov.au

Help keep australia free of illegal goods, if you see someone distributing illegal items, report them immediately.

[davewil1964]

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@essel_emporium wrote:

There is tendency today to go overboard with safety.  Just watched a guy at work tag-and-test everything in the office, and give everything a clean bill of health.  I asked, 'what about the wiring in the walls?'  I got a blank look.  So, if the place burns down because a rat has been nibling wires it kind of undermines the job the tag-and-tester was doing.  No one checks the wiring that no one sees.

Interesting note about the toaster.  Though, the fuse/circuit breaker would probably blow first.  That is, if its been tested to be good.  Oh, we don't tag and test fuses.  Oops.  And nobody puts copper wire in their fuse when they can't find the fuse wire.

Choice gave a stereo amp a bad report on an item.  It was a qulity hifi unit.  It got the bad write up because when they dangled it by the power cable the cable came adrit.  Unsafe they said.  I don't normally carry my electrical products by their power cables.  Perhaps Choce does.

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True - they use 2 inch nails. Which rate about 1000 amps.

I've seen the mess a temporary powerbox was left in when one of those blew. The lid was nearly a kilometre away (greenfield site, so nothing for it to hit, luckily).

I used to be a sparky, so I do actually know a little bit about the subject, but by all means everybody else, except you essel, carry on.

[shepherdsrule]

essel_emporium wrote:
There is tendency today to go overboard with safety.

One word.....insurance

Your house burns to the ground, and they find one 'non compliant' appliance was the cause.......

you can fill in the blanks.

With electricity,  I would never take chances, save a few bucks, against loss of a loved one -

again you fill in the blanks

[cable_mart]

Now this is the horrible part of this.

As most of you now know, a 28 year old woman was recently killed by the use of a USB charger which was not legal.

In the State of NSW the penalty under the department of fair trading for an indivdual (non-business) is $87,000 per item and up to 2 years imprisonment. other states have similar penalties.

For registered businesses Sole Traders/Partnerships/pty ltd/ ltd/ trusts etc the fines are up to $875,000 per item and up to five years imprisonment, you will be charged with obtaining financial benefit by deception and unlawful supply.

[pakton_paul]

Well said. The case of the dodgy USB charger that killed the girl recently should have the regulators sitting up and taking notice. Does Ebay have a method of allowing users to dob in unsafe goods? 

[kg5collector]

So where do I stand if I sell 12 single items being UV lights with no power plug attached and advertised that way?

Would the new owner have to go to a professional to get it working so the owner can use the item in a 240v power outlet after the item is purchased.

I was about to list the said items!