Consumer Protection Act 1999 · Updated to 1 Nov 2021 · Part III · Safety of Goods and Services
23. Prohibition against unsafe goods and services
Feedback & supportThe Minister may, on the recommendation of the Controller, by order published in the Gazette, declare any goods or any class of goods to be prohibited goods or any services or class of services to be prohibited services, where the goods or goods of that class or services or services of that class have caused or are likely to cause injury to any person or property or is otherwise unsafe.
Controller
“Controller”, “Deputy Controller” and “Assistant Controller” mean persons appointed as such under section 7;
An order made under subsection (1) may require the supplier, in such manner and within such period as may be specified in the order, and at the supplier’s own expense, to do any or all of the following:
supplier
“supplier” means a person who, in trade— (a) supplies goods to a consumer by transferring the ownership or the possession of the goods under a contract of sale, exchange, lease, hire or hire-purchase to which that person is a party; or (b) supplies services to a consumer, and includes— (i) where the rights of the supplier have been transferred by assignment or by operation of law, the person for the time being entitled to those rights; (ii) a financier who has lent money on the security of goods supplied to a consumer, if the whole or any part of the price of the goods is to be paid out of the proceeds of the loan and if the loan was arranged by a person who, in trade, supplied the goods; (iii) a person who, in trade, assigns or procures the assignment of goods to a financier to enable the financier to supply those goods, or goods of that kind, to the consumer; and (iv) a person who, in trade, is acting as agent for another person where that other person is not supplying in trade; *NOTE—This Act has replaced the Companies Act 1965 which came into operation on 31 January 2017–see subsection 620(1)…
recall the prohibited goods;
stop the supply of, or the offer to supply, the prohibited goods or prohibited services;
stop the advertisement of the prohibited goods or prohibited services;
disclose to the public any information relating to—
the characteristics of the prohibited goods or prohibited services which render them unsafe;
the circumstances in which use of the prohibited goods or prohibited services are unsafe;
any other matter relating to the prohibited goods or prohibited services or the use of the prohibited goods or prohibited services as may be specified;
repair or replace the prohibited goods or prohibited services;
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refund to any person to whom the prohibited goods or prohibited services were supplied the price paid or the value of the consideration given for the prohibited goods or prohibited services or any lesser amount as may be reasonable having regard to the use that that person has had of the prohibited goods or prohibited services.
Where an order is made under subsection (1), the Controller shall, by notice to the supplier, require the supplier to take any or all of the actions referred to in the order.
A notice under subsection (3) need not be provided directly to the supplier and may be provided by general methods, including placing notices in the public news media, as the Controller thinks fit, provided that the notice is clear and reasonable.
The supplier shall comply with all the requirements of any order and notice made under this section.
Further and without prejudice to the foregoing, where an order under subsection (1) is in effect—
no person shall supply, or offer to or advertise for supply, any prohibited goods or prohibited services; and
no supplier shall—
where the notice identifies a defect in, or a dangerous characteristic of, the prohibited goods or prohibited services, supply goods or services of a kind to which the order relates which contain the defect or have the characteristic; or
in any other case, supply goods or services of a kind to which the order relates.