Thousands of dangerous lighters seized

In one of their biggest ever hauls, product safety inspectors seized 34,000 unsafe cigarette lighters from a Dandenong importer.
The Consumer Affairs Victoria team said the lighters did not meet mandatory Australian product safety standards.
The 33,767 disposable lighters without safety warnings and 628 banned novelty lighters that young children could mistake for toys had a total retail value of $100,000.
Consumer Affairs Victoria director Simon Cohen said the seizure also included 68 pairs of sunglasses that did not have the required safety labelling.
Inspectors traced the products to the Dandenong-based importer last month after they were found on sale at a store in Epping.
Mr Cohen said potentially dangerous goods were subject to mandatory product safety standards in Australia.
Disposable lighters must be permanently marked with the name of the manufacturer or distributor and ‘Keep away from children’ or ‘Keep out of reach of children’.
Toy-like novelty lighters are subject to an outright permanent ban.
Sunglasses must be clearly marked or labelled with the name of the manufacturer or supplier, the lens category number and a description of the category.
Those who supply goods that do not meet mandatory standards or are subject to a permanent ban, including importers, can face fines of up to $1.1 million for body corporates and $220,000 for individuals.
“Lighters can be extremely dangerous, especially in the hands of young children,” Mr Cohen said.
“Consumer Affairs Victoria takes a zero-tolerance approach when it comes to product safety breaches in order to keep Victorians safe from harm.
“Suppliers, including importers, have an obligation to make sure their products comply with mandatory standards and anyone who falls short faces serious penalties as well as having the goods seized.”