Review of the mandatory safety standard for exercise cycles

Overview

The ACCC invites you to have your say on the issues and policy options in the consultation paper on the review of the mandatory safety standard for exercise cycles. 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 exercise cycles because:

• exercise cycle designs have changed since the standard was introduced in 1994
• new exercise cycles appear to cause lower injury rates than older exercise cycles that are still in use

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 ASTM, EN and ISO standards against its published criteria for acceptance.

Background

Exercise cycles are currently regulated by a mandatory safety standard that specifies safety requirements and testing methods, including:

• protective guards to prevent a child’s fingers and toes reaching hazardous moving parts
• testing to prevent entrapment hazards
• testing for the seat and its support to resist failure which could impale or injure the user
• user instructions to outline assembly, maintenance and correct seat adjustment.

The mandatory safety standard is based on the voluntary Australian standard AS 4092:1993 Exercise cycles – safety requirements. The key requirements of the mandatory safety standard are called up from the voluntary Australian standard.

Policy options

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

The ACCC’s preliminary position is to revoke the mandatory safety standard (Option 3).

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.