Title Page

UV Information

Products

Companies

Disclaimer

ARPANSA

Help

---

List your company in the UV Resource Guide - find out how...

This Guide offers information about personal sun protection and products that claim to offer sun protection. This document is produced by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) which is part of the Health and Aged Care Portfolio of the Commonwealth of Australia. The publication has been approved for release by John Loy, the CEO of ARPANSA.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2003

ISBN 0-642-50237-4

ARPANSA
Lower Plenty Road
Yallambie VIC 3085
Australia
Phone: +61 3 9433 2211
Fax: +61 3 9432 1835

Resource Guide Book Cover

Environmental UV Exposure Click image to enlarge

Important Copyright Notice
And Disclaimer

This Guide is issued by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to provide information about personal UV protection and to assist consumers in locating suppliers of products that claim to offer protection against solar ultraviolet radiation. It does not claim to be a comprehensive list of such products. Further, any claims made in this Guide with respect to the performance characteristics of the products listed, or of the products themselves and their availability, are those of the suppliers and are not claims of ARPANSA or the Commonwealth of Australia.

ARPANSA and the Commonwealth of Australia give no warranty that the information contained in this book is accurate or correct and, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the Trade Practices Act 1974, shall not be held responsible for any errors or omissions that have occurred in this guide.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from Info Access. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Info Access, GPO Box 2154, Canberra City ACT 2601.

About the Resource Guide
The publisher of this guide is the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). The CEO of ARPANSA has a responsibility in the field of radiation protection in Australia. In this role the CEO and his staff are active in raising awareness of the potential dangers of exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR). ARPANSA distributes information about UVR through a variety of publications. ARPANSA also provides daily measurements of UVR levels to news services in most capital cities.

Prolonged exposure to UVR can cause sunburn, skin cancer and eye disorders. To promote awareness of UVR protection issues, the Australian Radiation Laboratory (ARPANSA was formerly known as the Australian Radiation Laboratory - ARL) developed the UPF rating system for fabrics, which was used in 1996 to form the basis of the Australian and New Zealand Standard for sun protective clothing (AS/NZS 4399). Manufacturers and suppliers who participate in the UPF rating system, have samples of fabrics tested to determine the level of UVR protection, then their products may be labelled with an appropriate UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) rating tag. UPF ratings have been applied to various products including swimwear, rash vests, work shirts, school wear and hats.

Many companies label their products with a UPF rating label. AS/NZS 4399 specifies appropriate wording to appear on these labels. ARPANSA has supplied ready-made UPF rating swing tags to companies since 1992. ARPANSA’s own swing tags feature the UPF Certification Trade Mark. This trademark has become widely recognised by consumers through the millions of UPF labelled products sold in recent years. The highly visible swing tag helps promote community awareness of the dangers of overexposure to ultraviolet radiation and gives consumers confidence that the product they purchase will reduce their UVR exposure. At the time of the publication of this Guide the UPF Certification Trade Mark is endorsed with the name ARL. It is anticipated this will alter to reflect the name change of ARL to ARPANSA. Consumers can rest assured that the criteria and standard of the UPF Certification Trade Mark will not alter.

An example of an ARPANSA UPF swing tag.

ARPANSA and the Commonwealth of Australia do not endorse, promote or preferentially recommend any of the products listed in this book. In particular, ARPANSA and the Commonwealth of Australia make no representations or claims that all products listed do in fact offer protection against solar ultraviolet radiation.

ARPANSA and the Commonwealth of Australia give no warranty in relation to, and shall not be liable to the extent permitted by law for any claims arising out of the use or misuse of, any products listed in this book or false or misleading representations of suppliers. Purchasers of any listed products should make their own enquires concerning the suitability or otherwise of the products.

ARPANSA has been granted permission by each copyright holder to use their company details, trademarks, logos and product information in the Resource Guide for UVR Protective Products. Use of this information by any other parties, is subject to applicable copyright laws.

Web Access
This Guide is also available on the World Wide Web (Internet) at www.arpansa.gov.au. ARPANSA and the Commonwealth of Australia do not warrant that the information contained in ARPANSA’s web site is complete and correct and to the extent permitted by law shall not be liable whatsoever for any damages incurred as a result of its use.

The internet version of this work is also copyright. - © Commonwealth of Australia 2003. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. All other rights are reserved. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Manager, Legislative Services, AusInfo. GPO Box 1920, Canberra ACT 2601 or by email to Cwealthcopyright@dofa.gov.au

Links to other web sites are inserted for convenience and do not constitute endorsement of the supplier, its products or services nor is any guarantee made that the information at these sites is accurate and correct. To the full extent permitted by law and subject to the Trade Practices Act 1974, ARPANSA or the Commonwealth of Australia shall not be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action contract, negligence or tort, arising out of or in connection with access or use of hyperlinked sites or documents referred to in the publication.

Any organisation may provide links from their web site to the web version of this Guide. This involves no cost or permission from ARPANSA, however, we do require that the links are clearly acknowledged and that our pages are not framed by advertising or utilised for private or commercial advertising purposes.