“South Australia restricts sale of fridges that can't be opened from inside”
TRUE! You cannot sell a refrigerator with any compartment larger than 42.5 liters unless every door can be easily opened from inside.
The regulation mandates that large fridges must have doors that can be pushed open from inside. It also prohibits dumping a large fridge without first removing all doors and lids. Fridges manufactured or imported before 1962 are exempt from this requirement.
Where the story gets it wrong
Many assume this is a uniquely South Australian rule, but it isn't — many jurisdictions worldwide have enacted similar laws requiring refrigerator doors to be openable from inside.
Some assume the law bans all old-style refrigerators outright. In practice, it provides a legal defence for units manufactured or imported before 1 January 1962, exempting them from the door-opening requirement.
Summary Offences Act 1953, Section 58B(1): "A person must not sell or hire, or offer or expose for sale or hire, a refrigerator, ice chest or icebox having in it a compartment of a capacity of 42.5 litres or more unless that compartment is so constructed or equipped that every door or lid can be opened easily from the inside of the compartment when any lock or catch that can be operated from the outside of the compartment is fastened." Section 58B(3) also requires that refrigerators placed on dumps, public places, or unfenced vacant land must have doors/lids removed or rendered incapable of being fastened.
- Current status
- Actively Enforced
- Penalty
- Fines for non-compliance