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Trading Act 1986. If he were to search the website of New Zealand legislation at
www.legislation.govt.nz for that Act, he would see from reading section 40 that he
would commit an offence if he contravened any of the provisions of Part 3. If he
were to look at Part 3, he would see that regulations can be made prescribing
product safety standards relating to goods. If he was on his guard, he would find that
a standard had been made for childrens toys, t he Product Safety Standards
(Childrens Toys) Reg ulations 1992.
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Having located the regulations on the website he would read them and expect to find
out what he must do. He would then discover that the regulations prescribe a
standard for the manufacture of childrens toys for children aged 3 and under. He
would see that regulation 2 defines toy to mean an object manufactured, designed,
labelled, or marketed as a plaything for use in learning or play by a child. He would
also see, and possibly take comfort from the fact, that dolls are specifically included
under regulation 2(m). So he knows for certain that he must continue on. The
regulations themselves, however, wont he lp him. What they do is prescribe, as the
applicable standard, New Zealand StandardThe Prevention of Ingestion and
Inhalation Hazards in Toys Intended for Use by Children Under Three Years of Age
(NZS 5822:1992) promulgated by the Standards Council.
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Where might Dr Coppélius get hold of a copy of that document? The regulations
dont tell him. Neither does the Fair Trading Act. What does he do? If he had read
to the end of the regulations, he would have seen that they are administered in the
Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Inquiry of the Ministry wont assist beca use the
Ministry is prevented by copyright considerations from supplying him with a copy
of the standard. He is likely to be advised to try the Standards Council. He could go
to the Standards Council or search its website. A successful search of the Councils
website would, in turn, send him to a place on the website called the Shopping
Basket and there he would be told that he could purchase a hard copy for $68.69