Firms fined $120k for unsafe toys
Two toy importers who imported unsafe toys have been collectively fined more than $120,000.
Auckland-based wholesale importer Feel So Good Ltd was fined $60,000 and Espoir Ltd was fined $60,750 under the Fair Trading Act, following testing by the Commerce Commission of some of their stock.
The toys deemed unsafe were some rubber animals and a rattle called the ‘‘Ha-ha Groan Hammer’’. Small parts came out of two of three hammers when tested.
Feel So Good pleaded guilty to five charges related to supplying 2964 hammers to 52 retailers between August 2014 and December 2018. It recalled the product in February last year.
Espoir, a wholesale importer in Auckland, also pleaded guilty to five charges relating to the supply of 600 rubber toy animals between December 2014 and 2018.
The commission found the rubber toys it tested were found to either contain squeakers that came out during testing, or were too small. Espoir immediately recalled the toys.
Directors of both the companies said they were unaware of the safety regulations for young children, and had no compliance programmes.
During sentencing in the Manukau District Court earlier this month, Judge Anna-Marie Skellern said Espoir’s offending was ‘‘highly careless’’ and that the public ‘‘must be able to rely upon the integrity of those who sell these sort of items’’.
With regard to Feel So Good, Judge Skellern said the defendant absolutely should have known the requirements, ‘‘and given the difficulties posed by having English as a second language, should have taken extra care to ensure any legislation is complied with, given the extreme vulnerability of the end users of this product’’.
Stuart Wallace, the commission’s head of consumer, said the lack of knowledge the companies had was disappointing. It had a range of materials in various languages, including Korean and Chinese.
‘‘The regulations are there to protect the safety of young children,’’ he said.