Building Products (Safety) Act 2023 : Product Standards & Enforcement

8 July 2025 in Building and Construction Law | 4 min read | skip to FAQs

The Building Products (Safety) Act 2017 (NSW) (“Act”) was one of the Acts amended by the Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2023. Schedule 2 of the Amendment Bill addressed building products safety. This article examines the key changes in the new legislation with respect to the safety of building products. Some of these changes involve new duties and responsibilities of the newly created Building Commission. The Building Commission is a government regulator in the building and construction industry that was created in late 2023. It’s aim is to improve the quality of building in NSW. For more information, please see our dedicated article on the Building Commission.

Key Changes in Building Products Safety

The new Part 2A of the Act covers the chain of responsibility for building products. The purpose of this part of the Act is to ensure greater accountability for building product safety throughout the supply chain.

Widening of the Chain of Responsibility in the Supply Chain

More occupations included: Section 8B widens the chain of responsibility to include any person who designs or deals with a building product, a person who prepares a building design that would use or recommend the use of a building product, a person who uses the product in a building or any person otherwise specified as being part of the chain of responsibility. Therefore, wide classes of occupations have now been confirmed to form part of the chain of responsibility, including but not limited to manufacturers, architects, engineers, suppliers, importers, and tradespeople.

Increased Duties to those in the Supply Chain

Increased Duties: Numerous duties have now been imposed on any person in the chain of responsibility as set out below:

1. Section 8E imposes a duty to ensure products comply with relevant standards, most notably those in the National Construction Code.
2. Section 8F creates a duty to provide information to others in the supply chain regarding a product’s suitability for intended use, conditions and circumstances that impact its suitability, instructions on how to ensure the product is used compliantly, product maintenance information, and any other information specified by regulation.
3. Section 8H imposes a duty on any person in the chain to notify the Building Commissioner of a product’s non-compliance or its related safety risk within seven (7) days of becoming aware of the issue, in a form approved by the Secretary that can and will be made publicly available online.

Increased Responsibility when Products are Recalled

1. Section 8I requires, in the event of a product recall, any person in the chain to cease supplying or using the relevant product and to otherwise comply with the recall.
2. For suppliers, manufacturers or importers specifically, there are further duties to repair or modify, replace or refund the relevant product.
3. Meanwhile, a person responsible for building designs must amend their designs to remove the product and specify which compliant substitute is to be used.

Greater Powers to Building Commissioner

1. Issue product warnings pursuant to Section 15;
2. Issue supply and usage bans and recalls pursuant to Sections 15B,15D and 15F respectively;
3. Issue show cause notices to persons requiring them to show cause as to why they should not be subject to trading prohibitions pursuant to Section 41B;
4. Apply to the Supreme Court for orders prohibiting a person from continuing to supply building products pursuant to Section 41C;
5. Issue building product directions through authorised officers pursuant to Section 46B
6. Seize products through authorised officers pursuant to Section 53B;

Building Commissioner to provide additional Safety Notices

Section 85 has also been amended to enable the Building Commissioner to issue safety notices and directions even when the relevant building products comply with the National Construction Code. Previously, this section only allowed for the issue of bans for non-compliant building products.

How can BSM Sydney Construction Lawyers assist you?

The construction lawyers at BSM Sydney Lawyers are renowned as building industry experts. We have worked in construction law for several decades and acted for a range of clients from large corporations through to individual owner builders and contractors. We treat everyone with the same level of meticulous expertise and provide a comprehensive and rapid turnaround legal service. The lawyers at BSM Sydney Construction Lawyer remain up to date with the most recent changes in legislation. We understand and can explain to you the recent Building Legislation Amendment Bill which has modified responsibilities and requirements across most of the construction industry. The building lawyers at BSM Sydney Construction Lawyers are able to advise you of the impact these changes have on you. We offer a free 20-minute consultation to discuss any construction legal matter.

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