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Guide 04 of 05 · Commonwealth

Product incidents: a supplier’s two-day report

A business that supplies consumer goods in trade or commerce must give the Commonwealth Minister a written notice within 2 days of becoming aware of a person’s death or serious injury or illness where it considers, or learns that someone else considers, that the goods’ use or foreseeable misuse caused it or may have. That is section 131 of the Australian Consumer Law, and four exceptions take a case outside it.

  1. 2 daysfrom becoming aware
  2. 4exceptions in section 131(2)
  3. In writingto the Commonwealth Minister
  4. No admissionthe notice admits no liability

General information, not legal advice. The official place to check is the ACCC’s product safety site, including its page on when you must report an incident.

01 · the dutySection 131, as it is written

Australian Consumer Law, section 131(1) (Compilation No. 167, 16 September 2026)

“If:”

  1. “a person (the supplier), in trade or commerce, supplies consumer goods; and”
  2. “the supplier becomes aware of the death or serious injury or illness of any person and:”
    1. “considers that the death or serious injury or illness was caused, or may have been caused, by the use or foreseeable misuse of the consumer goods; or”
    2. “becomes aware that a person other than the supplier considers that the death or serious injury or illness was caused, or may have been caused, by the use or foreseeable misuse of the consumer goods;”

“the supplier must, within 2 days of becoming so aware, give the Commonwealth Minister a written notice that complies with subsection (5).” A pecuniary penalty may be imposed for a contravention.

The test is what is considered, not what is proven: the death or injury “was caused, or may have been caused”. Either limb of paragraph (b) is enough, and the second needs only that someone other than the supplier holds that view. Section 131(3) adds that it “applies whether or not the consumer goods were being used before or at the time the death or serious injury or illness occurred.”

02 · the wordsConsumer goods, and a serious injury or illness

Two terms decide whether the clock starts, and section 2 defines both. Consumer goods are “goods that are intended to be used, or are of a kind likely to be used, for personal, domestic or household use or consumption”, including any that have become fixtures since they were supplied if “a recall notice for the goods has been issued” or “a person has voluntarily taken action to recall the goods.”

A serious injury or illness is “an acute physical injury or illness that requires medical or surgical treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner or a nurse (whether or not in a hospital, clinic or similar place)”. It does not include “an ailment, disorder, defect or morbid condition (whether of sudden onset or gradual development)”, or “the recurrence, or aggravation, of such an ailment, disorder, defect or morbid condition.”

03 · the exceptionsThe four cases section 131 leaves out

Subsection (1) “does not apply if”:

  1. “it is clear that the death or serious injury or illness was not caused by the use or foreseeable misuse of the consumer goods”
  2. “it is very unlikely that the death or serious injury or illness was caused by the use or foreseeable misuse of the consumer goods”
  3. “the supplier, or another person, is required to notify the death or serious injury or illness in accordance with a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory that is a law specified in the regulations”
  4. “the supplier, or another person, is required to notify the death or serious injury or illness in accordance with an industry code of practice that: (i) applies to the supplier or other person; and (ii) is specified in the regulations.”

The first two turn on the words “clear” and “very unlikely”. The last two depend on which laws and codes the regulations specify, which this guide does not set out; a duty to report a work incident is a separate clock with its own law.

04 · the startHow a supplier becomes aware

Section 131(4) does not limit how awareness arises, but names sources it includes: receiving the relevant information from a consumer; from a person who re-supplies the consumer goods; from a repairer or insurer of the goods; or from an industry organisation or consumer organisation. On counting the 2 days, the ACCC says: “If the day the report is due falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.”

05 · the noticeWhat the notice must say

Under section 131(5), the notice must identify the consumer goods, and include information about these matters to the extent the supplier knows them when it gives the notice:

  • “when, and in what quantities, the consumer goods were manufactured in Australia, supplied in Australia, imported into Australia or exported from Australia”
  • “the circumstances in which the death or serious injury or illness occurred”
  • “the nature of any serious injury or illness suffered by any person”
  • “any action that the supplier has taken, or is intending to take, in relation to the consumer goods.”

Giving the notice “is not to be taken for any purpose to be an admission by the supplier of any liability” in relation to the goods, or to the death or serious injury or illness of any person (s 131(6)).

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