Fake cigarettes and toys that are ‘essentially weapons’: Choice refers online retailers to regulator over unsafe products

Cigarette lighters that look like toys, gel blasters, flick knives and fake tongue studs are among the “frightening” number of unsafe and potentially banned products being sold to Australians on online marketplaces, a Choice investigation has found. After identifying the products, Choice on Wednesday formally asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to take action against the retailers and begin a review of the country’s product safety laws more generally. The consumer advocacy group considered the matter serious enough to warrant a designated or “super” complaint to the ACCC, which it can only do once a year and compels the regulator to respond within 90 days. Choice is calling for the law to be tightened to stop unsafe products being sold in the “grey area” of online marketplaces. Product safety was already in the spotlight, after the ACCC launched its first federal court action against an online marketplace – alleging Amazon failed to comply with mandatory button battery warning requirements on children’s backpacks. The ACCC on Tuesday announced it had asked several online marketplaces to take down “banned and potentially deadly” toys and games as part of its own investigation into small high-powered magnets, which are banned in Australia. Choice said it bought and received a range of toy-like novelty lighters and cigarettes from eBay, AliExpress and Amazon , as well as sky lanterns from Shein. …