The Warehouse Ltd has been ordered to pay a fine of $234,000 for selling a toy that posed a choking risk to children under three years old.
The product at issue was the Roo Crew Take-Apart Vehicle Toys, which were available for sale at The Warehouse from March 2021 until they were recalled in January 2024. In response to the fine, the retailer issued a statement asserting that the toy was not dangerous and that “no child has ever been injured.”
The Commerce Commission’s head of fair trading and product safety investigations, Simon Pope, said the toys had multiple small parts that created a choking hazard for children under 36 months because those parts could detach and the products “failed small parts testing.”
Although the toys included some warnings, Pope said they were labelled and marketed for use by children aged 36 months or under.
The commission’s investigation also found that the toys had been displayed in an aisle alongside other products described as “suitable for children aged five and under.”
Under the Fair Trading Act, toys designed, manufactured, labelled, or marketed for use by children under three must comply with product safety standards that prohibit small parts or pieces that could detach during play because of choking risks.
In a court statement, a spokesperson for The Warehouse said the commission’s “key grievance was the packaging, not the toy itself,” noting that it was specifically about an image of a child who appeared to be under three years old, despite “clear and prominent age warnings on the packaging.”
The spokesperson added that the company was grateful that the court reached the same view on this.
The Warehouse also noted it had removed the toy from sale immediately when the issue arose and said that “countless toys have been sold to Kiwi families by offshore online retailers, which have been shown to fall seriously short of New Zealand’s product safety requirements.” The company said it “has, and always will, treat the safety of our customers as a non-negotiable priority.”