Review of the mandatory safety standard for pedal bicycles

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 bicycles. 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 We Are Consulting

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is reviewing the mandatory standard for pedal bicycles because:

• we want to see if the safety standard is still effective in reducing serious injuries from bicycle product failures (it was introduced in 1979 because of concerns about unsafe bicycles supplied in Australia)
• there have been technological developments in bicycle manufacturing and the current regulatory arrangements may no longer be the best way to address the safety concerns
• the market has changed since the previous review of the mandatory safety standard
• we are considering trusted international standards for bicycles
• we are considering whether mandatory safety requirements for recumbent, one-of-a-kind, folding, tandem, second-hand and hire bicycles are required
• we are considering safety principles rather than prescriptive requirements to ensure bicycles have effective braking and are structurally sound.
• we want to ensure that the mandatory safety standard keeps pace with changes in bicycle technology, bicycle marketing and 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 of the standard considers the adoption of international standards. The ACCC has assessed the European, ISO and CPSC standards for bicycles against its published criteria for acceptance.

Background

Bicycles in Australia are currently regulated by a mandatory safety standard that sets out requirements for braking, steering function, reflectors, bells, identification markers and user guidance. In addition to the mandatory standard all State and Territory road rules require bicycles to have a brake, reflectors and a bell.

Policy options

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

A detailed discussion of the options, including a cost/benefit analysis using the regulation impact framework is in the paper.

Your submission 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.