Aquatic toys and flotation aids

The Fair Trading Amendment (Aquatic Toys and Flotation Aids) Regulation 2010 commenced on 25 June 2010 and prescribes a safety standard for:

• children's flotation toys and aquatic toys, and
• children's swimming and flotation aids.

The Regulation replaces the previous safety standard prescribed for children's flotation toys and swimming aids.

The Regulation has been made under section 26 of the Fair Trading Act 1987, which allows mandatory safety standards to be made that control performance, design or methods of manufacture, of a specific kind of goods supplied in trade or commerce. The purpose of such requirements is to prevent or reduce the risk of injury to a person.

The standard complements the Commonwealth safety standards for Flotation Toys and Aquatic Toys and for Swimming Aids and Flotation Aids for Water Familiarisation and Swimming Tuition. Both standards were introduced on 8 April 2009.

The Regulation requires that all flotation and aquatic toys for children under 14 years old must carry a statement that they are not a life saving device and a warning to only use under supervision in shallow water. The Regulation also specifies requirements for design, construction, performance and warning labels for swimming and flotation aids for children under 14 years old.

Requirements for the flotation and aquatic toys standard are based on AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2002 Safety of toys, Part 1: Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties (ISO 8124–1:2000, MOD). Requirements for the swimming and flotation aids standard are based on AS 1900–2002, Flotation aids for water familiarisation and swimming tuition, with variations as specified.

The standard applies to unincorporated suppliers operating within NSW. The complementary Commonwealth standard applies to incorporated suppliers operating throughout NSW and unincorporated suppliers operating across jurisdictions.