Limited review of the aquatic toys mandatory standard - consultation on exposure draft safety standard

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About the aquatic toys mandatory standard

The mandatory standard was first introduced in 1986 to ensure aquatic toys supplied in Australia have key safety features and labelling to reduce the risk of serious injury or death to children from drowning.

The mandatory standard was last updated in 2020. It references parts of the voluntary international standard for safety of toys (ISO 8124-1:2018) and the voluntary Australian Standard for safety of toys (AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2019).

Suppliers therefore have 2 compliance options – that is, products can comply with the mandatory standard by meeting the requirements in either of the referenced standards.

New versions of these voluntary standards were published in 2022 and 2023 respectively, and amendments to both voluntary standards were published in 2025. The AS/NZS standard is an identical adoption of the ISO standard.

Find out more about the mandatory standard on the ACCC Product Safety website.

Recommendations

Based on research and stakeholder responses to our previous consultation, we propose updating the mandatory standard to:

1. reference the following voluntary international and Australian standards:
   • ISO 8124-1 - Safety of toys – Part 1: Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties (clause 4.20).
   • AS/NZS ISO 8124.1- Safety of toys, Part 1: Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties (clause 4.20).
2. apply dynamic referencing to both voluntary standards listed above
3. apply a 2-year transition period for the new safety standard, during which suppliers can choose to continue to comply with the old mandatory standard or the new mandatory standard.

These proposed recommendations are reflected in the exposure draft Consumer Goods (Aquatic Toys) Safety Standard 2026.

Requirements during the transition period

When the new mandatory standard comes into force, there will be a 2-year transition period where suppliers can choose to comply with either the old mandatory standard or the new mandatory standard.

This provides suppliers with time to clear existing stock, adjust design and manufacturing processes, and test for the new requirements.

At the end of the 2-year transitional period, aquatic toys must comply with the new safety standard - see Part 2 of the exposure draft Consumer Goods (Aquatic Toys) Safety Standard 2026.

Applying dynamic referencing to voluntary standards

Mandatory standards can reference one or more voluntary standards. Voluntary standards are updated from time to time.

Dynamic referencing means that the mandatory standard can reference a voluntary standard as it exists from time to time. Doing this will allow updates to the referenced voluntary standard (either amendments or substantive new versions) to flow through to the mandatory standard, keeping pace with global product safety developments.

However, these updates to referenced voluntary standards should not flow through to the mandatory standard immediately. Nor should superseded versions of referenced voluntary standards immediately cease to be a compliance option under the mandatory standard.

The exposure draft Consumer Goods (Aquatic Toys) Safety Standard 2026 is designed to:

• provide a 6-month review period for the ACCC to review an update to a referenced voluntary standard before the updated version of the voluntary standard can become a valid compliance option – see section 8(2)(b) of the exposure draft Consumer Goods (Aquatic Toys) Safety Standard 2026. If found unsuitable, the ACCC can recommend the Minister amend the mandatory standard to stop the updated version of the voluntary standard becoming a compliance option (we expect this to be rare)
• provide a further 2-year phase-out period for the superseded version of the voluntary standard to remain a valid compliance option – see section 8(2)(a) of the exposure draft Consumer Goods (Aquatic Toys) Safety Standard 2026. During this time, both the superseded and updated versions of the voluntary standard are available as compliance options
• ensure that at the end of the 2-year phase-out period, only the updated version of a referenced voluntary standard will remain as a compliance option.

The diagram below provides a visual representation of this process by way of example only.

Diagram: Example process for when referenced voluntary standards are updated.