Review of the mandatory safety standard for bicycle helmets

Overview

The ACCC invites you to have your say on the issues and policy options in the consultation paper for the review of the mandatory safety standard for bicycle helmets. The issues in this paper have been briefly summarised below, please refer to the document for further details.

The ACCC prefers submissions to be provided via the ACCC consultation hub.

Alternatively, interested parties can email submissions to: productsafety.regulation@accc.gov.au

Submissions can also be made via post to:

Director
Standards & Policy
Consumer Product Safety Branch
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
GPO Box 3131
CANBERRA ACT 2601

Submissions will be published on the ACCC website at the end of the consultation period.

Please note any information that you believe to be of a confidential nature should be clearly marked or identified as confidential. The ACCC will not disclose the confidential information to third parties, other than advisors or consultants engaged directly by the ACCC, without first providing you with notice of its intention to do so, such as where it is compelled to do so by law.

Why your views matter

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is reviewing the  mandatory safety standard for bicycle helmets because:

• there is potential for future conflict between commonwealth and state/territory regulation
• overlapping regulations create increased compliance costs for governments, businesses and consumers
• regulatory good practice and government policy encourages the use of trusted standards
• the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) includes a number of consumer protections and guarantees which may be used by the ACCC with state and territory road use laws to ensure the safe supply of bicycle helmets.

The purpose of this review is to assess whether the mandatory safety standard remains effective and whether there are more efficient ways of achieving the same level of safety. This review considers the adoption of international standards. The ACCC has assessed the EN and CPSC standards against its published criteria for acceptance.

Background

Bicycle helmets are currently regulated by a mandatory safety standard that prescribes the general design features, helmet retention system, projections, materials, ventilation, testing and performance requirements, instructions and safety markings.

The mandatory safety standard specifies which bicycle helmets can be supplied to consumers, whereas state and territory road authorities regulate what helmets can be used on the road.

The mandatory safety standard is based on the voluntary Australian/ New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2063:2008 – Bicycle Helmets. As at September 2016, every state and territory references AS/NZS 2063 in their respective road use laws.

Policy options

The ACCC is considering the following policy options for dealing with the current mandatory safety standard:

The ACCC’s preliminary position is to revoke the mandatory safety standard to remove potential for a future conflict between commonwealth and state/ territory regulation. A detailed discussion of the options is in the consultation paper.

Your submissions to this consultation will help us refine the estimated costs, benefits and safety outcomes for each option, and to recommend the most appropriate option to the Minister.