23rd October 2014 News: Dentists feel the pain of counterfeit products

A Sydney woman is facing criminal charges for selling faulty electrical cables which has initiated a multimillion dollar national recall in Australia. Lu Luo imported the wires from China, according to News Corp, before selling them through national suppliers and popular hardware stores. NSW Fair Trading has confirmed it has commenced proceedings against Ms Lu Luo for selling electrical articles in breach of the Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2004 (NSW). A spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said that the estimated cost of the recall is $80 million.

As highlighted last week, by the Approved Cables Initiative, Infinity and Olsent branded Infinity cables have failed to meet electrical safety standards due to poor quality plastic coating. Now 18 electrical retailers and wholesalers have recalled the cables which may expose around 40,000 homes in Australia to a risk of electric shock or fire.

The cables affected do not comply with the ageing requirements of the electrical safety standard, AS/NZS 5000, and expert advice is that they may become prematurely brittle and break if disturbed, exposing the internal conductors and potentially causing electrical shock or fires.

The faulty product has led to the launch of a national task-force made up of consumer agencies, building regulators and electrical safety regulators to locate and replace the cables. Meanwhile, Luo's company, Infinity Cable Co, has gone into liquidation and a recall was issued for cables labelled 'INFINITY' and 'OLSENT' if they were sourced from the company.

This latest product recall has prompted the Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) to stress the importance of checking carefully Chinese origin cable and adopting third party approval as part of distributors’ cable procurement process.

An ACI spokesperson said: “It is reassuring, as representative of an initiative set up to highlight the dangers of sub-standard cable, to see the robust and prompt action that the NSW Fair Trading and ACCC are taking to manage this issue.

“Although this issue affects consumers on the other side of the world we know that faulty cable is a problem across the globe. UK distributors and wholesalers need to be heedful when making their cable choices as many will look to China for alternatives. Purchasing cable manufactured to recognised standards and carrying third party approval is a must if a similar situation is to be avoided in the UK.”

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