The Commerce Commission has identified seven more children’s products it considers unsafe as part of its ongoing investigation into bargain store Panda Mart.
The items — a baby walker, doll, smartphone toy, fairy cake toy, sunscreen product and two car toys — have been added to a list of 40 children’s goods the commission declared to be unsafe in December.
Recall notices have been issued for the 47 items sold in Panda Mart’s stores in Auckland and Christchurch.
The commission has made “legally binding commitments” with Panda Mart for the first time, meaning the outlet needed to halt sales of the products identified or any similar or new products that could be unsafe.
“If Panda Mart breaks these commitments, the commission may take court action,” a spokesperson from the agency said.
“This is to protect consumers while our investigation continues and should reduce the sale of further unsafe goods.”
The previous list included 11 kinds of walkers, seven kinds of bikes, various kinds of toys, sunscreen products and hot water bags.
The unsafe products were deemed to be non-complaint with the product safety standard or an unsafe goods notice.
The commission said Panda Mart stopped the sale of the specific products mentioned in the recall late last year but continued to sell similar products.
The 47 products listed on the commission’s website were no longer sold by Panda Mart, the commission said.
Recall notices on some of these products can be found on the government’s Product Safety website, which shows several non-child products were also being recalled, including a gardening tool, an extension cord and three different kinds of table lamps.
Vanessa Horne, general manager of competition, fair trading and credit at the commission, said the agency was continuing to investigate the business.
“We are actively monitoring this situation and continue to be concerned about the safety of products sold at Panda Mart,” Horne said.
“One of the commission’s enduring priorities is to prioritise product safety issues that are within our regime which have the potential to cause serious harm to consumers, particularly children.”
Panda Mart has also come to the attention of the Australian government, with a public warning against it being issued in March.
Thousands of products, including children’s make-up sets, birthday cards, glitter balls and bike helmets, were considered failing to “meet mandatory product safety and information standards, including items that could be dangerous”, according to Consumer Affairs Victoria.
RNZ has approached Panda Mart for comment.
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