Product safety and consumer information standards
This page was updated2 weeks ago
To help prevent injury, there are safety standards in place for some products. There are also information standards for some products to help you make informed decisions when purchasing and caring for a product.
Product safety standards
There are a number of product safety standards in place to help prevent and reduce the chance of accidents and injuries while using these products.
Baby walkers
There is a product safety standard for baby walkers to help reduce the risk of children getting hurt when using one. This is because baby walkers allow children to move around faster and further and in different ways than they are able to on their own.
Children's nightwear
Children may be injured if their nightwear accidentally catches on fire. When buying nightwear for children, look for snug fitting items and low fire hazard fabrics. This reduces the chance of the nightwear catching fire.
In New Zealand, children’s nightwear that is covered by the Product Safety Standard must carry a fire hazard label. This includes new and second-hand children’s nightwear and some daywear (sizes 00–14). The label reminds caregivers to keep children away from heat and flame sources .
Children's toys
Children under the age of 36 months are less able to cough up anything they swallow by accident and may choke
To reduce the risk of children choking while playing with a toy, children’s toys must be of a specified size, and not contain small parts designed to be removed from the toy or small pieces that break off easily.
In general the Product Safety Standard for Children's Toys applies to toys with characteristics that will appeal to a child up to 36 months of age.
Cigarette lighters
Lighters that are unsafe, do not work properly or are used incorrectly, particularly by children, may cause accidental fires and injuries.
To reduce the risk of accidental fires, cigarette lighters must meet certain performance, design and labelling standards. Lighters must be designed to ensure most children would not be able to operate them.
Household cots
Babies and young children may be injured in an unsafe cot.
To help reduce the risk of injury to babies and young children, household cots must meet certain design and construction requirements, pass impact, strength and durability tests and have warning labels attached.
Multipurpose ladders
The failure of multipurpose ladders, such as collapsing when in use, can cause serious injury.
For safety, any multipurpose ladder that is sold in New Zealand must meet a minimum safety standard to ensure it meets the testing requirements for stability, labels that are easy to read and have misuse and electrical hazard warnings.
Pedal bicycles
To help prevent you from getting injured when riding a bicycle, new bicycles must meet design and performance requirements, and also have warning labels attached.
Sunscreen
A new mandatory safety standard for sunscreen came into force on 8 September 2022.
The Australian/NZ Standard for sunscreen (AS/NZ 2604/2012) will be the mandatory Safety Standard under the Fair Trading Act, and enforced by the Commission.
The Safety Standard sets out procedures for determining the performance of sunscreen products, their sun protection factor (SPF) classification, testing methods and labelling requirements.
Consumer information standards
Consumer information standards help you make informed decisions when purchasing and caring for products. They require traders to disclose certain information about goods and services when they offer them for sale.
Care labelling
You can expect that any type of clothing, household fabric or furnishing you buy has a label that gives you information about how to care for the product.
Having this information means that the fabric is less likely to be damaged or destroyed and is more likely to last for a reasonable period of time.
Country of origin labelling
All new clothing and footwear must have a label that tells you where the product was made.
Having this sort of information means you can make an informed decision when thinking about buying clothing and footwear.
Country of origin food regulations
From February 2022, consumers can expect to see mandatory country of origin information on a range of fresh and thawed food, and on frozen food from May 2023. The new Consumer Information Standards (Origin of Food) Regulations apply to fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and shellfish that are of a single type, fresh, thawed, or frozen, and no more than minimally processed. The Regulations also apply to cured pork.
Unit Pricing for Grocery Products
The Unit Pricing Regulations are helping consumers easily compare products based on the price-per-unit and make informed choices about which product offers them the best value.
These regulations came into effect as of 31 August 2023 and require certain grocery retailers to display the unit price for goods clearly and legibly, at no less than 25% the size of the marked price. Not every grocery retailer is required to display a unit price.
Physical stores must comply with the regulations by 31 August 2024 and online stores must comply by 31 August 2025.
Fibre content labelling
Clothing or fabric you buy must have labels that list the fibres, and the percentages or amounts of the different fibres, in the product.
This ensures you have accurate information about the fibre content of the clothing or textiles you buy to make sure you can correctly use and care for these products.
Used motor vehicles
All used motor vehicles must have an accurate and complete Consumer Information Notice when displayed for sale by a used motor vehicle seller.
The Consumer Information Notice (CIN) provides you with information about the vehicle so that you can make a better informed purchasing decision.
Water efficiency labels
Certain products must have water efficiency rating labels displayed next to them when being sold in New Zealand.
Having this information about a product's water consumption and efficiency means that you can make a more informed purchasing decision when buying products that use water.
Product safety posters
We have produced a poster which helps draw attention to the mandatory product safety standards we enforce, particularly those affecting young children and infants.
You can download the poster in the language of your choice below.
