CHRISTMAS CRACKDOWN ON DANGEROUS TOYS

Santa was on hand in Sydney’s west today as Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello announced a Christmas crackdown on the sale of dangerous toys.

Mr Dominello urged families to remain vigilant in the lead up to Christmas to make sure no potentially lethal toys made it under the tree this year.

“NSW Fair Trading inspectors have been hard at work in recent weeks, checking 773 businesses across the state and removed 83 types of non-compliant toys, detected in pre-Christmas checks,” Mr Dominello said.

“57 individual traders were found selling dangerous toys and most non-compliant toys were detected in $2 and pop up shops, consistent with previous years’ results. Twenty-nine $550 penalty notices have been issued and 17 prosecutions are in progress.”

Of the dangerous toys found, 68 contravened the product safety standard for toys for children up to and including 36 months of age and featured dangerous, small parts that represent an inhalation and ingestion hazard.

Ten were projectile toys that failed to pass a kinetic energy test, had a non-detachable protective tip projectile or posed a choking or inhalation hazard.

Five aquatic toys failed the standard specifying labelling for toys intended for children under 14 years of age to minimise the risk of drowning.

“Fair Trading has done a formidable job in protecting families this Christmas and we value the partnership with CHOICE, whose experts test suspect toys and help us promote important safety messages,” Mr Dominello said.