Magnetic Toys – Australia
PLEASE NOTE: Fruugo’s Prohibited Products Policy strictly prohibits the sale of magnetic toys in any country.
This guidance page is intended to notify retailers of the rules in Australia regarding magnetic toys in light of recent contact Fruugo has received from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) in relation to magnetic battle chess game products specifically.
What is the law?
In Australia, the Consumer Protection Notice No.5 of 2012 imposes a permanent ban on magnetic toys which contain separable or loose magnetic objects that are supplied in multiples of two or more where:
at least two of those magnetic objects are each separately able to fit entirely, in any orientation, into the small parts cylinder as provided by clause 5.2 and figure 15 of the Australian / New Zealand Standard, Safety of toys – Part 1: Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties (AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2010); and,
at least two of those magnetic objects each separately have a magnetic flux index greater than 50 (kG)2 mm2, determined as per clause 5.31 of AS/NZS 8124.1:2010.
In addition, the Consumer Goods (Toys Containing Magnetics) Safety Standard 2020 (the Magnetic Toy Safety Standard) states that after the transitional period, a magnetic toy must comply with one of the following:
(a) the requirements in section 9 (Australian/New Zealand Standard);
(b) the requirements in section 10 (European Standard);
(c) the requirements in section 11 (International Standard);
(d) the requirements in section 12 (US Standard).
These standards all seek to address the risks of children ingesting small high-powered magnets or small high-powered magnetic components supplied with children’s toys, i.e. neodymium iron boron type magnets.
What do I have to do?
Please proactively check your product stores for any non-compliant items.
Should you have any magnetic toy products on your feed, please IMMEDIATELY REMOVE all of these items from all markets including any products that may be listed in the wrong categories.
DO NOT RELIST these products on Fruugo. We ask that you specifically check to see if you have any other listed products that contain high voltage magnets that are also prohibited.
If you have sold any of these products on Fruugo you must IMMEDIATELY RECALL these products. Please note that this recall will be at your own expense.
If any of the products were sold in Australia you must inform the ACCC of the product recall within 2 days of issuing the recall. Please refer to the ACCC guidance for further information on this process: https://www.productsafety.gov.au/about-us/publications/conducting-a-consumer-product-safety-recall-a-guideline-for-suppliers
Fruugo takes this matter extremely seriously, and failure to comply with this instruction could lead to your account being escalated for disciplinary action and could even lead to a permanent removal of your account.