Sector guide · Toy, gift & hobby retail
Supplier and distribution agreements
In wholesale particularly, and often in retail, the real asset is your supply position. Exclusive Australian distribution for a brand, favourable.
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In wholesale particularly, and often in retail, the real asset is your supply position. Exclusive Australian distribution for a brand, favourable terms built over years, allocation priority on lines that sell out, or the relationships that get you first look at new ranges.
The question that decides a lot of the value is whether any of it survives a change of ownership. Many distribution agreements are personal to the principal or contain change of control provisions that let the supplier walk. If your business rests on three brand relationships and two of them terminate on sale, a buyer is purchasing considerably less than you think you are selling. Establish this early with the actual agreements in front of you, not from memory.
The mandatory safety standards that apply to toys in Australia
| Instrument and register ID | What it covers and the key requirement |
|---|---|
| Consumer Goods (Toys for Children up to and including 36 Months of Age) Safety Standard 2023 F2023L01185 | Toys for children up to and including 36 months. Requires compliance with specified sections of AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2023, ISO 8124-1:2022, EN 71-1:2014+A1:2018 or ASTM F963-17, plus a section of the electric toy standard AS/NZS 62115:2018. Small parts are assessed against the small parts cylinder, 31 mm in diameter and 57 mm long. Battery-operated toys in scope must have the battery compartment secured so it can only be opened with a tool. Registered 4 September 2023, repealing Consumer Protection Notice No. 14 of 2003. |
| Consumer Product Safety Standard: Lead and Certain Elements in Children’s Toys, Consumer Protection Notice No. 1 of 2009 F2009L00223 | Toys and finger paints for children up to 6 years. Sets migration limits for 8 elements. For toys, in mg/kg: antimony 60, arsenic 25, barium 1000, cadmium 75, chromium 60, lead 90, mercury 60, selenium 500. For finger paints: antimony 10, arsenic 10, barium 350, cadmium 15, chromium 25, lead 25, mercury 10, selenium 50. Commenced 2 February 2009 under the Trade Practices Act 1974 and continued under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. |
| Consumer Goods (Projectile Toys) Safety Standard 2020 F2020L00687 | Projectile toys for children under 14, including toy guns and bow and arrow sets. Requires compliance with AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2019, EN 71-1:2014+A1:2018, ISO 8124-1:2018 or ASTM F963-17. A toy that launches a projectile beyond 300 mm, or that exceeds 0.08 joules of kinetic energy, must carry the warning “WARNING: Do not aim at eyes or face”. Amended by F2021L01065. |
| Consumer Goods (Aquatic Toys) Safety Standard 2026 F2026L00797 | Aquatic toys for children under 14. Registered 25 June 2026, repealing the 2020 standard F2020L00686. Requires non-return valves with permanently attached stoppers protruding no more than 5 mm, and the permanent warning “Warning! This is not a life-saving device. Only to be used in water in which the child is within its depth and under adult supervision.” Excludes beach balls, bodyboards, kickboards, surfboards, air beds and deep-water inflatable boats. |
| Consumer Goods (Toys Containing Magnets) Safety Standard 2020 F2020L01074 | Toys containing magnets for children under 14. Commenced 27 August 2020. Requires design and construction that prevents a child accessing small magnets, and compliance with AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2019, EN 71-1:2014+A1:2018, ISO 8124-1:2018 or ASTM F963-17. Magnetic or electrical experiment sets containing loose small high-powered magnets may be supplied for ages 8+ with appropriate warnings. |
Instrument titles and register IDs are from the Federal Register of Legislation and the ACCC Product Safety Australia mandatory standards pages, current as at August 2026. The ACCC states that suppliers may comply with either the 2020 or the 2026 aquatic toys standard until 25 June 2028, with the 2026 standard applying exclusively from 26 June 2028. I have not been able to read those transition dates from the registered instrument itself, so treat the ACCC page as the source and confirm the position for your own stock. The transition end date on the face of the 2023 toys standard could not be verified either, so it is not stated here.
Three products you cannot supply at all, whatever the test report says
A permanent ban is different from a standard. A standard sets requirements you can meet. A ban prohibits supply outright, and no amount of testing or labelling makes the product lawful to sell in Australia.
Small high-powered magnets are banned under Consumer Protection Notice No. 5 of 2012, register ID F2012L02171. The ban covers separate or loose magnets supplied in multiples of two or more, that fit within the small parts cylinder and have a magnetic flux index greater than 50 (kG)² mm². It applies where those magnets are marketed or supplied for use as toys, games or puzzles, construction or modelling kits, or as jewellery worn in or around the mouth or nose. The ACCC page does not state the effective date, so no date is given here.
Yo-yo water balls are banned under Consumer Protection Notice No. 20 of 2011, register ID F2011L00230. The ban covers a toy with an elastic cord capable of extending at least 500 mm with a soft liquid-filled synthetic ball at one end. That ban is still current. Children’s plastic products containing more than 1 per cent diethylhexyl phthalate are banned under Consumer Protection Notice No. 11 of 2011, register ID F2011L00192.
On 2 June 2026 the ACCC issued takedown requests to Amazon, eBay, Kogan and Fruugo for toys and games containing banned small high-powered magnets, particularly magnetic chess and magnetic battle chess products. All four platforms committed to contacting affected customers and preventing relisting. If you sell through a marketplace, you carry the same supplier obligations as a shopfront, and a platform takedown does not extinguish your liability. Product safety priorities published by the ACCC for 2026-27 include young children, with explicit reference to button battery compliance, and digital markets, covering unsafe goods sold through online marketplaces.
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