CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND RETAIL E-SSENTIALS

New Zealand: Unsafe inclined sleep products can no longer be made or sold

JANUARY 2020 - CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS

In December 2019, the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs of New Zealand announced an unsafe good notice¹ prohibits the supply of certain new or used inclined infant sleep products (inclined sleepers), meaning they cannot legally be imported, sold or given away in New Zealand.

The ban applies to products that are designed, intended or marketed for babies to sleep in or napping, whether is freestanding, or designed to be attached to another structure, and that have a sleep surface angled more than 7 degrees from the horizontal. “Sleep surface” means the surface that supports an infant’s head and back.

Baby hammocks, inclined sleepers with medical purpose, and can be adjusted to multi incline angles below 7 degrees in every angle, are excluded from this notice.

Trading Standards reports², inclined sleepers have been linked to more than 70 infant deaths overseas between 2005 and 2019. Some types of inclined products are not suitable for sleep, like car seats, prams and strollers, sling and carriers, baby bouncers and play seats, as they are intended for transportation or entertainment and for use under the supervision of a parent and caregiver.

[1] Unsafe Goods (Inclined Infant Sleep Products) Notice 2019

[2] Trading Standards Business Guide