In some jurisdictions, such as the EU, US and Canada, suppliers must also notify their regulators when they ought to know about serious productrelated accidents or deaths, and where there is a serious risk even if no actual accident occurred. In 2010, Australia’s ACL regime introduced a disclosure obligation that is narrower in these respects, and questionable also in other aspects.
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For example, it also does not require disclosures of long-onset health risks or diseases (unless and until these result in deaths). Most unfortunately, the ACL adds strict confidentiality obligations on the regulator receiving accident reports from suppliers; it cannot even share identifying information with regulators from close trading partners.
This hampers Australia’s capacity to contribute product hazard information to the OECD’s Global Portal, which over the long term aims to collect and
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