Sale of Hazardous Goods (Children's Dart Gun Sets and Yo-Yo Water Balls) Order 2003 (TAS)

The Products Safety Committee, pursuant to the Sale of Hazardous Goods Act 1977, issued an order in 2003 prohibiting the sale of children’s dart gun sets and yo-yo water balls. The order, titled "Sale of Hazardous Goods (Children’s Dart Gun Sets and Yo-Yo Water Balls) Order 2003," came into effect on the date of its notification in the Gazette. The committee, chaired by R. Ormerod, made this order at a meeting held on 20 August 2003, and it was officially notified in the Gazette on 31 December 2003. The order is administered by the Department of Justice and Industrial Relations.

The legal issues at hand involved the interpretation of the Sale of Hazardous Goods Act 1977 and the application of the Australian/New Zealand Standard Safety of Toys, Part 1 (AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2002) to the specific products in question. The committee needed to determine whether children’s dart gun sets and yo-yo water balls constituted hazardous goods that should be prohibited from sale due to safety concerns. The definitions provided in the order were critical in identifying these products and assessing their compliance with safety standards.

The Products Safety Committee concluded that both children’s dart gun sets and yo-yo water balls posed significant safety risks. Children’s dart gun sets were found to be unsafe due to the suction-tipped darts that could fit into a small parts test cylinder, posing a choking hazard. Yo-yo water balls were deemed hazardous due to their squeezable, soft, and liquid-filled nature, which could lead to injury if the ball bursts. Consequently, the committee issued a prohibition on the sale of both products, aligning with the aim of the Sale of Hazardous Goods Act 1977 to protect consumers from hazardous goods.

The final orders made by the Products Safety Committee were that no person must sell children’s dart gun sets or yo-yo water balls, effectively removing these products from the market to safeguard public health and safety. The order was designed to ensure that these hazardous goods do not pose risks to children and others who might come into contact with them.