Check Imported Products Are Tested IANZ Tells Kiwis

5 July 2012

News release

Check Imported Products Are Tested IANZ Tells Kiwis

The increase in imported products into New Zealand combined with the growth of online retailing means Kiwis need to check the goods they buy meet safety standards.

That’s the advice from International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) - the national authority which accredits testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies and radiology services.

“We’re working with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to ensure imported products that can cause harm, such as ladders that could collapse, toys that could be poisonous or even household electrical products, meet New Zealand safety standards,” says IANZ chief executive Dr Llew Richards.

“If someone sells a product online it still must be safe. But how do you know? If the importer says it meets a particular standard, and it doesn’t, they are breaking the Fair Trading Act and could be prosecuted.”

Richards says people buying potentially dangerous items need to be assured they are safe and can do the job they’re meant to do.

“The easiest way to do that is to check they have been tested in a facility that has been accredited by IANZ, to test that particular product to test that particular product – and that they passed the test!”

Richards says IANZ and the Ministry are working together, to make it easier for importers and retailers to know what their obligations are, and to make it easier for the end consumer to be assured.

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