On 22 July 2015, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) published International Standards for the Safety of Consumer Products - Criteria for Acceptance, which specifies the conditions for ACCC’s criteria to accept international standards for the safety of consumer products as that for Australian consumer goods.

To reduce duplicative domestic regulation, the Government will adopt the principle that if a system, service or product has been approved under a trusted international standard or risk assessment, then Australian regulators should not impose any additional requirements, unless there is a good and demonstrable reason to do so. This will reduce costs and delays for businesses, increase the supply of products into the Australian market and allow regulatory authorities to focus on higher priorities.

Businesses can make judgment on whether the international standard is applicable based on the three criteria according to International Standards for the Safety of Consumer Products - Criteria for Acceptance.

Criterion 1 - Addressing safety concerns: is there evidence that the international standard provides an acceptable level of consumer safety?
Criterion 2 - Comparable jurisdiction to Australia: is the international standard published or developed by a legitimate standards body or government agency from an economy or nation with comparable economic and regulatory processes to Australia?
Criterion 3 - Applicability to the Australian context: is the international standard applicable and sufficient in the Australian context?

ACCC will adopt the criteria to assess safety concerns for specific goods and set mandatory safety requirements for them according to the international standard.