Sporting goods and apparel retailer Decathlon has been ordered to pay penalties of $1.5 million for selling sports and recreation goods that did not comply with applicable mandatory safety standards.
The penalties come after the ACCC initiated proceedings against the retailer in July 2020.
Decathlon admitted that, between January 2016 and December 2019, it supplied 432 basketball rings and backboards and 307 portable swimming pools which did not comply with the relevant Australian mandatory safety standards.
14 models of Decathlon basketball rings and backboards and 5 models of portable swimming pool products did not include the safety labelling, consumer warnings or installation and use instructions required by the safety standards.
In total, Decathlon admitted to selling 66 portable pools which were over 30 centimetres deep without the required warnings, and 341 basketball rings and backboards with user manuals that contained misleading representations that the products could be safely attached to brickwork, when this was not the case.
ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said the safety standards are in place to prevent death or injury to Australian consumers.
"Mandatory safety standards exist to reduce the risk of death and serious injury to consumers, especially children, when using these types of products.
"By not including these important warnings, Decathlon put consumers at risk of serious harm when they were using the Decathlon swimming pools, basketball rings and backboards.
"When the basketball rings and backboards are attached to a brick wall, the wall cannot cope with the stresses placed on them when people perform slam dunks, which could lead to serious or fatal injuries if the wall collapses.
"It is illegal to sell products in Australia that do not comply with mandatory safety standards, and consumers have a right to expect that products they purchase will not endanger their safety, or the safety of their family and others," she said.
The Court found that Decathlon's breach of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) was the result of a general lack of attention to its legal responsibilities as well as a failure to take effective and timely action in response to correspondence received from the ACCC in relation to the offending products.
The Court ordered Decathlon to publish a corrective notice on its website and to implement an ACL compliance program.
Decathlon was also ordered to pay the ACCC’s costs.
In December 2019, Decathlon recalled 51 different products, including all Decathlon basketball rings and backboards, basketball systems, and the portable swimming pools products which are the subject of these proceedings.
Decathlon operates an online store and has five stores across Melbourne and Sydney.