Rare Earth magnet toys banned in Australia... but our uses are OK (Apparently)

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**rigeld2**

Fenriswulf wrote:
rigeld2 wrote:
Fenriswulf wrote:
Buying magnets separately to use in a kit isn't going to be illegal. And there aren't that many hobby stores which sell them here in Australia. Cheaper to get them off ebay.

Magnets being sold as groups of magnets for the purpose of being magnets can be sold. They can't be sold if they are intended to be used as a toy. Simple as that.

http://www.productsafety.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/997517/fromItemId/997511 wrote:
are marketed by the supplier as, or supplied for use as any of the following:
...
a construction or modelling kit

You buy modeling kits. Marketing the magnets for use with modeling kits is illegal.

Says "a construction or modelling kit". Magnets bought separately which are not labelled as being a toy construction or modelling kit will be fine. Buying rare earth magnets as themselves and then adding them into your own kit later is perfectly fine.

I am thinking some of you guys are being deliberately dense so as to troll me, so if you can't figure it out from here, you need more help. Have you considered the healing properties of magnets?*

*magnets used as healing devices not actually guaranteed to heal in any way shape or form. Especially if you swallow them.

If they're marketed by the supplier as useful for a construction or modeling kit - you can be fined.
Meaning you can't say "Buy this Razorback and these magnets so you can swap out guns or other options!" That'd earn you a fine.

Having a store that sells lots of model kits that just happens to carry magnets (that are totally not for use with modeling kits!) isn't going to fly.

**Bat Manuel**

blood reaper wrote:
Australia should just ban people, then no one will get hurt.

......Or would they?

**Thanatos73**

So this model from Privateer Press is illegal in Australia now? http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/legion-of-everblight/warlocks/bethayne-and-belphegor

It comes with a rare earth magnet in the box and is a modeling kit.

**Manchu**

Australia ... not a place for poeple who enjoy magnets and pr0n of small-breasted women.

The A-cup thing ...

**Brother-Captain Scotti**

Manchu wrote:
Australia ... not a place for poeple who enjoy magnets and pr0n of small-breasted women.

The A-cup thing ...

Wow, just wow........ what ridiculous assumption

they may as well say that your dodgy if you have girlfriend/wife with small lady bumps!

**cormadepanda**

Hmm... Now all i need is a pirate hat, and a blimp. Fly over to aussy land full of all the illegal things. Magnets for toys, and warhammer models without shipping fees/usa prices. Muhahaha make a ton i will.

**SilverMK2**

Really Australia? And we used to think you were cool...

**Ovion**

SilverMK2 wrote:
Really Australia? And we used to think you were cool...

You did? The country where a lot of things are expensive as hell, everything is trying to kill you and the heat / humidity is obnoxious to the extreme?

**SilverMK2**

Ovion wrote:
You did? The country where a lot of things are expensive as hell, everything is trying to kill you and the heat / humidity is obnoxious to the extreme?

I enjoyed my time there and they didn't put into place lots of stupid laws

**thenoobbomb**

blood reaper wrote:
Australia should just ban people, then no one will get hurt.

You gave them an idea..

**Tannhauser42**

Ovion wrote:
SilverMK2 wrote:
Really Australia? And we used to think you were cool...

You did? The country where a lot of things are expensive as hell, everything is trying to kill you and the heat / humidity is obnoxious to the extreme?

Are you sure you're not talking about downtown Dallas (Texas) in summer?

Anyway, I can understand the logic behind banning powerful magnets as children's toys (the bucky balls example), but this boggles the mind.

**hotsauceman1**

Why do people keep banning stuff that will weed out the stupid?

**SilverMK2**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
Why do people keep banning stuff that will weed out the stupid?

The stupid are often easier to lead with platitudes rather than any meaningful action

**rigeld2**

Thanatos73 wrote:
So this model from Privateer Press is illegal in Australia now? http://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/legion-of-everblight/warlocks/bethayne-and-belphegor

It comes with a rare earth magnet in the box and is a modeling kit.

Why yes - yes it is.

**Salacious Greed**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
Why do people keep banning stuff that will weed out the stupid?

Because when you stop natural selection, the stupid and weak become the majority, and majority rules bro....

**insaniak**

rigeld2 wrote:
You buy modeling kits. Marketing the magnets for use with modeling kits is illegal.

The modelling kits it's talking about is stuff like this:

It's vague enough for stores to be concerned about miniature kits that come with magnets in them, but there is nothing so far to suggest that the regulators have any interest in going after magnets sold just as magnets for non-specifically-toy use.

**Grey Templar**

Yeah, technically miniatures are not Toys. It actually says so on the back of GW boxes.

**Cruentus**

So I assume it also applies to this Battlefront set of US Cavalry (armor) which includes 32 rare earth magnets...

http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=3618

**insaniak**

That's the bit everyone is still trying to figure out.

But given that they're not marketed specifically to children, I suspect that they won't be a problem.

Some retailers have been removing them from sale just in case, though.

**rigeld2**

I get what they were going for.
The problem is that's not what the law says. GW kits are models. The law specifically calls out modelling kits with magnets.

Assuming they won't enforce it with regards to GW and other modelling kits is not the right way to go about it.

**Lockark**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I wonder how many children were killed by cars in Australia in the past year alone...?

Most car accidents are caused by Rare Earth Magnets.

I'm now just pitchering a kid picking a rare earth magnet off the ground and suddenly a car flying off the rode and crushing him due to the magnet.
XD

**-Loki-**

rigeld2 wrote:
I get what they were going for.
The problem is that's not what the law says. GW kits are models. The law specifically calls out modelling kits with magnets.

Assuming they won't enforce it with regards to GW and other modelling kits is not the right way to go about it.

The thing that really has people worried is rare earth magnets, by themselves, not marketed as anything but, well, a pack of rare earth magnets. As such, they only fall under sections a and b, but not any part of c.

Some stores are removing them to be safe, some aren't.

**Lord Castellan Mik**

It doesn't matter what we think... we arn't the Politicians

It doesn't matter what we think... we arn't the suppliers

Laws ARE vague so that people ere on the side of caution

Suppliers WILL ere on the side of caution

Unless it is VERY CLEAR... we WILL loose suppliers

and if we loose them all... it will be illegal to import them

fingers crossed Aussies, that some suppliers will have guts to challenge for their case

Mik

**Ronin**

I know a couple Aussie-based webstores that were looking into it, but I havent heard any updates regarding it and thus they're playing it safe and taking it off their online catalogue, for now. It's a good thing I stocked up as soon as I heard the news.

**Maddermax**

Ronin wrote:
I know a couple Aussie-based webstores that were looking into it, but I havent heard any updates regarding it and thus they're playing it safe and taking it off their online catalogue, for now. It's a good thing I stocked up as soon as I heard the news.

\

Here's a quote from one supplier, back to base-ix:

As many of you may be aware, the Australian Government has placed a ban on certain types of Rare Earth Magnets.

I will firstly direct your attention to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 - Consumer Protection Notice No. 5 of 2012 - Imposition of Permanent Ban on Small, High Powered Magnets which can be viewed here:

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2012L02171

The ban is to cover a particular range of REMs when marketed and used in a particular fashion. An example of this being Neocubes and other magnetic puzzle type toys.

In regards to our own sales and uses in product development of these magnets we find ourselves falling outside of this ban.

To clarify, while our magnets (dependent on size) may fall inside both sections a) and b) of the Particulars of Consumer Goods (found in the above document), they do not fall into any of subsections i, ii, or iii of section c)

Our magnets are not:

i. a toy, game or puzzle (including but not limited to an adult desk toy, an educational toy or game, a toy, game or puzzle for mental stimulation or stress relief); or
ii. a construction or modelling kit; or
iii. jewellery to be worn in or around the mouth or nose.

So the ban on Modelling magnets in Australia has been somewhat exaggerated. We'll be fully able to get modelling magnets, no worries.

Meanwhile, the US is also banning these types of loose magnetic toys, suing Bucky Balls into closure, and Canada and New Zealand are moving to do the same, so good luck with that

**WarOne**

Cannot be as bad as China banning pigeons:

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2012-11-02/china-bans-pigeons-balloons-ahead-of-congress/1040490

The Chinese Government is locking down the skies of Beijing ahead of next week's leadership change, banning balloons, remote control helicopters and homing pigeons.

Taxi drivers have also been instructed to remove handles from rear windows and not to let passengers open doors or windows as they pass important venues to stop subversive leaflets being scattered on the streets.

**TheContortionist**

oh man. i feel bad for Australians. better stock up now if possible.

**undead flesh addict**

Wow, thanks alot safety nazis. I hope this won't carry over to NZ

**-Loki-**

People really need to chill over this. As far as it's known, magnets bought by themselves, not marketed as a toy, are fine. Considering thats what we use in this hobby, outside of a few outlying model kits that include them, we shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Until they amend the wording of the ban. So buy them while you can.

**Maddermax**

All Magnets are NOT BEING BANNED!

The type of magnets we use as modellers are STILL available, and will CONTINUE to be available to us. Read the bloody FAQ!

What is a “magnetic object” in relation to the permanent ban on small, high powered magnets?

Answer
A magnetic object is a magnet or an object which has the same physical properties of a magnet. A magnetic object is not intended to be an object which contains a magnet, such as a travel chess piece which has a magnet embedded into its base, but where the rest of the object is not magnetic.

I make toys for children which contain small, high powered magnets – is my product now banned?

Answer
Not necessarily. Your product will be captured by the ban if the magnets in your toy are loose and separable and:

are small enough to fit into the small parts cylinder used in the mandatory standard for toys for children up to and including 36 months of age
have a magnetic flux of 50 or more
are marketed by the supplier as, or supplied for use as any of the following:
a toy, game or puzzle (including but not limited to an adult desk toy, an educational toy or game, a toy, game or puzzle for mental stimulation or stress relief)
a construction or modelling kit
jewellery to be worn in or around the mouth or nose.

If magnets are used in a toy, they will not be captured by the ban as they will not be supplied as separable or loose magnets.

However your toy may be subject to the mandatory standard for toys containing magnets. This mandatory standard requires any small high powered magnets which are embedded in children’s toys to have a warning label.

I’m an importer of small high powered magnets. I supply these magnets to other companies. I don’t ask what the magnets will be used for. What happens if a customer sells magnets purchased from me as a desk toy for consumers?

Answer
For the ban on small, high powered magnets, it's the use intended by the supplier and not the consumer which is relevant. Suppliers, whether they are retail or wholesale suppliers, are not obliged to enquire about the intentions of their customers."

As long as the retailer isn't marketing these items as "a toy, game or puzzle (including but not limited to an adult desk toy, an educational toy or game, a toy, game or puzzle for mental stimulation or stress relief), a construction or modelling kit or jewellery to be worn in or around the mouth or nose", they can continue to sell them. It's not their concern if you, the purchaser, decide to use them in one of those categories.

Are any fridge magnets covered in the ban on small, high powered magnets?

Answer
Many fridge magnets consist of a magnet which is embedded in another object such as plastic or a plaster mould. These fridge magnets are not subject to this ban. In addition, most fridge magnets are sold as singles rather than in multiples and would not satisfy the requirement that the product consist of at least two loose or separable magnets.

Finally, most fridge magnets are ferrous magnets, which are relatively weak and would be unlikely to reach the magnetic flux measurement specified in the ban.

They are trying to ban a very specific type of toy that is KNOWN to cause deaths and serious injuries. They are not doing a wide ranging ban that would affect us as modellers.

undead flesh addict wrote:
Wow, thanks alot safety nazis. I hope this won't carry over to NZ

Yes, NZ is already reviewing the products, as is Canada, and will probably do the same.The US is already moving against manufacturers and suppliers of these sorts of toys (bucky balls and the like). This is not an Australia only thing.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

TheContortionist wrote:
oh man. i feel bad for Australians. better stock up now if possible.

The US government was already doing this before Australia made a move. I feel sorry for you Americans.

/note, the ban in question only affects a narrow range of products, so the US just moved against suppliers and sued them out of existence. Yeah, I'm sure that's the superior way to do things.