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SUPERHERO pyjamas were among the five styles of children's nightwear sold by Ozsale Pty Ltd which have been deemed noncompliant with Australian safety standards by the Federal Court, in an action brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The online membership based retailer was ordered to pay $500,000 in penalties after selling more than 200 non-compliant garments and having a further 11,000 non-compliant garments available for supply to Australian consumers.
ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard says that by supplying the garments in question, Ozsale placed children at an increased risk of injury.
"The Orange Superhero Pajamas were particularly concerning, as the fabric and the length of the cape presented a very real risk of injury, as it could easily brush against a heat source and very quickly catch fire," Rickard said.
"The mandatory safety standard for children's nightwear exists to ensure that consumers have accurate information about flammability," she says.
"In this case, one garment was so unsafe that it should not have been supplied in Australia at all."
Ozsale admitted in joint submissions to the court that it supplied children's nightwear on various dates between February 2014 and October 2015 that failed to meet the mandatory safety requirements.
The company also acknowledged it did not have adequate procedures in place to ensure that the children's nightwear it offered for sale complied with this standard.
This included clothing where the fire-hazard labelling warning was absent or wrong and the requirements relating to mass of fabric and length of trims were non-compliant.
The Australian mandatory standard for children's nightwear prescribes a series of safety requirements for testing and labelling, as well as overall design.
The standard sets a maximum allowable length for trims and attachments, to decrease the risk of a garment coming in contact with a heat source.
For some garments it also mandates the mass of certain fabrics, due to the fact that denser material burns at a faster rate.
Ozsale also recently paid a $10,800 penalty and submitted to a court enforceable undertaking for alleged misleading representations in relation to consumer guarantees, following the issue of an infringement notice by the ACCC.
Each of the products in question have been recalled, with consumers urged to cease use and return them to Ozsale for a full refund.
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