Australia Publishes 4 Standards for Button / Coin Batteries

Button batteries and lithium coin batteries are the small, round, batteries you find in toys, cards, watches, key fobs, calculators, hearing aids and numerous other everyday objects. They appear to be fairly harmless but if a person swallow it and it gets stuck at any point; then it will continue to emit its charge and can burn through the tissues and cause lasting and often fatal injuries.

In Australia and globally, there is a growing record of serious injuries and deaths of children from these batteries. In Australia, three children have tragically died as a result of swallowing a coin battery and there is an increasing number of young children suffering severe injuries following the ingestion or insertion of button batteries.

Recently, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) had published 4 mandatory standards for button / coin batteries to better safeguard the safety of end-users.

The four mandatory standards are:

1. Consumer Goods (Products Containing Button/Coin Batteries) Safety Standard 2020
   • Prescribes requirements for all consumer goods containing button/coin batteries, including storage containers and organisers, and accessories of consumer goods
   • Requires consumer goods containing button/coin batteries to have secure battery compartments, where the batteries are intended to be replaced
2. Consumer Goods (Products Containing Button/Coin Batteries) Information Standard 2020
   • Prescribes warning requirements and best practice recommendations for consumer goods containing button/coin batteries, including storage containers and organisers, and accessories of consumer goods
   • Requires consumer goods containing button/coin batteries to provide warnings and information about the battery hazard on product packaging and in the instructions for use
3. Consumer Goods (Button/Coin Batteries) Safety Standard 2020
   • Prescribes requirements for child-resistant packaging when supplying button/coin batteries, based on their risk profile, to reduce the risk of death or serious injury to children as a result of accessing batteries directly from packaging
4. Consumer Goods (Button/Coin Batteries) Information Standard 2020
   • Prescribes warning requirements and best practice recommendations for button/coin battery packaging and button/coin batteries themselves
   • Requires button/coin battery packaging to be marked clearly with warnings and information about the battery hazard

The mandatory standards include an 18-month transition period to allow suppliers time to implement any manufacturing and design changes to products and packaging to comply with the new requirements. From June 2022 suppliers must comply with the requirements in the standards.

For more information on this update, please refer to the office site (see here).

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