Product safety and consumer information standards
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.
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Baby walkers
There is a product safety standard for baby walkers to help reduce the risk of children getting hurt when using one. -
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. -
Children's toys
Children under the age of 36 months are less able to cough up anything they swallow by accident and may choke.
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.