The ACCC has taken Dusk Australasia Pty Ltd to the Federal Court, alleging the homewares brand sold products containing button batteries that didn’t meet Australia’s mandatory safety and information standards. The regulator claims this puts Dusk in breach of Australian Consumer Law, with the case now set to play out in court.
It is also alleged that Dusk breached a court-enforceable undertaking it had previously provided to the ACCC.
Dusk primarily sells homewares such as candles and home fragrance products, including essential oils, diffusers and fragrance-related items. Dusk supplies products in-store and online with 150 stores nationally, including two online stores.
Dusk vs ACCC in court
The ACCC alleges that between 17 May 2023 and 12 December 2024, Dusk supplied 66,453 products, comprising 29 different product lines, that did not comply with mandatory button battery safety and information standards.
The items included candles, diffusers, tealights, snow globes and other LED products, many of which were Christmas, Easter or Halloween themed. These may be attractive to young children who are most at risk of harm from button batteries.
“Button batteries can cause catastrophic injuries or death if swallowed by young children, so it is crucial that businesses take their product safety obligations seriously,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“Failing to test products for compliance with the mandatory button battery standards before supply to consumers creates an unacceptable safety risk, particularly for young children.”
The ACCC alleges 25 of the product lines sold were not tested prior to supply to consumers, as required under the mandatory safety standard.
Dusk later obtained tests to confirm the products passed the relevant safety requirements. However, this testing had not been conducted before the products were supplied to consumers as is required under the standard.
In addition, four product lines failed to include the safety warnings required by the mandatory information standard. This means consumers did not receive information that products contained button batteries — information that may be important to a purchase decision or enabling precautions after purchase.
“Compliance with the mandatory button battery standards is an ACCC compliance and enforcement priority. Businesses must ensure they have adequate policies and procedures in place to comply with these standards,” Ms Lowe said.
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Prior issues with Dusk
In April 2023, the ACCC accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Dusk after it supplied Halloween-themed novelty products containing button batteries that did not comply with the mandatory safety standards. Dusk also paid $106,560 in penalties after the ACCC issued eight infringement notices relating to the supply of non-compliant button battery product lines.
“We are extremely concerned as Dusk allegedly supplied tens of thousands of products that did not comply with button battery standards designed to protect young children who are most at risk of serious injury, despite having previously given an undertaking to the ACCC that it would not do so,” Ms Lowe said.
“We take any breach of formal undertakings given to the ACCC very seriously. These commitments exist to ensure accountability, trust and compliance with the law. We will not hesitate to take action whenever we see these obligations not being met.”
The ACCC alleges Dusk breached this undertaking each time it supplied or offered to supply products that did not comply with the button battery standards.
The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, costs and an order requiring Dusk to pay an amount reflecting any financial benefit it obtained from the alleged breaches, and other orders.
Lead image: Dusk Group / LinkedIn
This article is from MediaWeek.
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