It was a milestone year for the ACCC in the area of product safety, as the ACCC commenced (and was ultimately successful in) its first Federal Court proceedings relating to breaches of the button battery mandatory standards. Elsewhere, the ACCC continued to identify and address the risk of serious injury and death from safety hazards in consumer products, including by taking enforcement action against Hungry Jacks and The Wiggles.

Key enforcement activity 

City Beach 

First proceedings regarding button battery mandatory standards

In December 2025, the Federal Court ordered City Beach to pay a pecuniary penalty of $14 million for selling products containing button batteries that did not comply with mandatory product safety and information standards, in breach of the ACL.  This was the first case brought (and the first pecuniary penalty obtained) by the ACCC for breaches of these standards, as it had previously relied on merely issuing infringement notices to enforce similar contraventions.

The Court found that, between 2022 and 2024, on over 50,000 occasions, City Beach supplied consumer goods that contained button/coin batteries and that did not comply with either safety or information standards relating to button batteries. In ordering City Beach to pay a penalty of $14 million, the Court found that there were aggravating factors in support of imposing such a high penalty, including the absence of any proper systems being in place to ensure compliance with the ACL, the failure of staff to escalate serious compliance issues to senior management, the continued sale of products after the ACCC raised its concerns with senior management and the continued sale of products after the delayed issuing of recall notices.

“…City Beach’s contraventions of the Mandatory Standards created a significant and serious risk of harm. Parents and guardians of children have been denied access to information about the risks of button batteries to inform their choice about the purchase of the products, and to ensure that children in their care who were playing with or using these products were supervised properly and given appropriate medical treatment if a button battery was swallowed. Children, and particularly young children, have also been exposed to a risk of death or physical injury.”

Downes J’s judgment in City Beach 

The Wiggles and Hungry Jacks

In the firing line for non-compliance with mandatory safety warnings related to button batteries

Earlier this year, the ACCC took action against Hungry Jacks Pty Ltd (Hungry Jacks) and The Wiggles regarding their compliance with the mandatory safety warnings required for products containing button batteries. In short:

1. Hungry Jacks paid penalties totalling $150,240 after the ACCC issued it with eight infringement notices relating to a Garfield toy powered by button batteries that was supplied without the essential warnings and information required by the mandatory information standard; and
    
2. The Wiggles provided the ACCC with a court-enforceable undertaking in which it admitted it likely breached the ACL by supplying Emma Bow headbands without mandatory safety warnings required for products containing button batteries.

Children's sand product recall 

In November and December 2025, the ACCC published recall notices for children’s coloured sand products, which many suppliers elected to recall on the basis that they may contain traces of asbestos. While the ACCC stated that there is a very low risk to human health from these products, suppliers and the ACCC took a very cautious approach. Overall, the ACCC oversaw about 250 recalls of potentially dangerous products in 2025, slightly below the 270 it oversaw in 2024. 

Mandatory standards review 

In July 2025, the ACCC commenced its expedited reviews of existing mandatory standards. Information released to date suggests that these reviews may not be as broad as first thought, as the ACCC has noted, “We are not considering significant changes in these limited reviews. This means we won't adjust the scope of mandatory standards or other major requirements like performance measures.” It will be interesting to see what, if any, changes arise from this process.

Assessment against priorities 

In June 2025, the ACCC announced its product safety priorities for the new financial year, which included:

1. protecting young children from high-risk product safety issues in button batteries, unstable furniture and unsafe infant sleep products;
    
2. a focus on reducing the prevalence of high-risk, unsafe consumer products sold online;
    
3. a series of expedited reviews of existing mandatory standards from July 2025, as part of a push to support innovation, reduce costs and expand safe product choices; and
    
4. other key focusses, including addressing the safety risk posed by lithium-ion batteries and increasing the reporting of safety incidents through public education and compliance initiatives.

Since then, the ACCC has moved decisively in only one high-risk arena: namely, in bringing the City Beach proceeding concerning button battery non-compliance. Otherwise, other priority areas (such as lithium-ion battery safety and online marketplace compliance) have not yet resulted in any public enforcement outcomes. 

Looking forward

The ACCC fulfilled its promise of focussing on product safety issues in button batteries. Importantly, though, the ACCC is yet to take any court enforcement action regarding lithium-ion battery safety risks and online marketplaces. Both of these issues are key priorities for the ACCC in the 2026 financial year and were also product safety priorities for the 2025 financial year. Given its increased product safety enforcement activity, we do expect the ACCC to take enforcement action in relation to these issues within the next 12 months, while continuing its broader enforcement and education work. 

In addition, we might see:

• First enforcement actions (though possibly via infringement notices rather than Court proceedings) against suppliers of lithium-ion battery products (such as e-scooters, portable chargers or power tools) for failure to comply with the ACL and/or mandatory safety standards.
   
• Proceedings or infringement notices against online marketplace operators for failing to block unsafe imports and unlicensed goods from entering Australia.
   
• Modest amendments to existing standards following last year’s expedited review of mandatory standards.
   
• Greater public and industry education campaigns on hazards posed by lithium-ion batteries, unstable furniture and unsafe infant sleep products.