Myer Pty Ltd has given a court-enforceable undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to address the ACCC's concerns about Myer's supply of Bloc and Stone branded sunglasses.
The ACCC conducted a random survey of the Myer Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne store and assessed that its Bloc and Stone branded sunglasses did not comply with the labelling requirements of the prescribed product safety standard for sunglasses. The sunglasses were supplied to Myer by Inline UK Pty Ltd.
All sunglasses and fashion spectacles supplied in Australia must comply with performance and labelling requirements specified in the mandatory consumer safety standard based on Australia New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 1067:2003 Sunglasses and fashion spectacles. The Trade Practices Act 1974 prohibits a corporation from supplying consumer goods that do not comply with prescribed product safety standards.
Following ACCC testing, the ACCC considered also that the Mumma and Square styles of sunglasses from the Bloc range may not comply with certain performance requirements of the standard. Further tests commissioned by Myer's supplier indicated that some pairs of Mumma and Square sunglasses passed the standard's prescribed performance requirements, while other pairs failed.
The labelling on all the sunglasses in the Bloc and Stone ranges represented that the sunglasses complied with the standard. Based on the ACCC survey and its test results, the ACCC was also concerned that Myer may have contravened sections 52, 53 and 55 of the Act by engaging in misleading conduct.
When the ACCC raised these concerns, Myer and Inline took immediate corrective action by withdrawing the products from sale nationally and conducting a voluntary national recall of the Square and Mumma sunglasses.
The ACCC has accepted undertakings from Myer that it will:
- ensure for a period of three years that goods supplied by Myer that are subject to a prescribed safety and/or information standard under the Act comply with the relevant standard, and
- maintain and further develop a trade practices law compliance program.
"All suppliers who have a hand in delivering sunglasses to consumers, including manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers, must ensure their products fully comply with the mandatory standard," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
"The ACCC vigilantly scrutinises compliance by conducting regular random surveys of products subject to mandatory standards and will take strong enforcement action where appropriate."