An admission by Progressive Enterprises Limited that it breached the Fair Trading Act by selling partially assembled bicycles without the safety warnings and assembly instructions sends a warning to all retailers, the Commerce Commission Director of Fair Trading Deborah Battell said today.

"Progressive has accepted that it breached the Act and has given an undertaking to comply in future," said Ms Battell.

The Commission received a complaint in November of last year that low cost bicycles were being sold by Progressive without safety warnings and assembly instructions being provided on packaging or with the bicycle components.

The Viva 24 and 26 inch mountain bicycles were being sold from Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown supermarkets nationally. The Commission investigated and found the bicycles didn't comply with the Product Safety Standards.

Progressive explained the breach as the result of the bicycles coming from a new supplier. It maintained that labelling requirements had been inadvertently overlooked but when the issue was brought to its attention, it took immediate steps to correct it, including having the cycles independently tested.

Progressive has given the Commission undertakings that it will comply with the labelling requirements of the standard. It has also undertaken to refund dissatisfied customers and to review its Fair Trading Act compliance programme.

"Progressive understands that the Commission reserves the right to take further action if the company does not adhere to the undertakings it's given," Ms Battell said. "We're pleased to have achieved a quick and satisfactory result and at the same time sent a strong message to retailers about the need to comply with product safety labelling requirements."

"Bicycles must be assembled properly so that riders' safety is not compromised by the bicycle itself. The Commission also strongly suggests that purchasers of unassembled or partially assembled bicycles have these checked by qualified bicycle mechanics.

Breaches of the Fair Trading Act can result in prosecution and fines for a company of up to $200,000.