Information standards regulate the type and amount of information provided to consumers about goods and services.  An information standard can:

• require particular information to be provided, or not;
• set the form or manner of this information; or
• give certain meaning to the information.

There are mandatory information standards for:

• care and labelling for clothing and textile products - labels should include appropriate instructions to help consumers care for the item;
• ingredient labelling of cosmetics and toiletries - labels must state the ingrediants to help consumers compare products, identify ingredients and avoid adverse reactions; and,
• tobacco labelling - tobacco products must carry required health warnings which comprise graphic images, warning messages, explanatory messages and information messages.

Suppliers, manufacturers, importers, distributors, hirers and retailers must:

• ensure goods and services they supply comply with relevant information standards if sold within Australia; and,
• be familiar with information standards relevant to those goods and services.

For example a retailer sold imported dresses not properly labelled with instructions for washing, dry-cleaning and ironing.  The retailer was fined because the labels did not contain all instructions required by the information standard.

The law also allows Australian governments to regulate consumer goods or product-related services by imposing mandatory safety standards.  For more information on information standards and mandatory standards, refer to the Product Safety Australia website.

Supplying goods and services that do not comply with an information standard is an offence.  The maximum fine is $220,000 for an individual and $1.1 million for a body corporate.  Civil penalties for the same amount apply.