Engineered stone ban

What the rule is and who it applies to

Under work health and safety laws in every state and territory, the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs has been prohibited since 1 July 2024. The reason is silicosis in the workers who cut it.

Since 1 January 2025 they are also prohibited imports under regulation 5M of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations. The only ways in are a written permission or an exemption, held before the goods ship. The import declaration carries a question on engineered stone.

Installed engineered stone can stay. Removal, repair, minor modification and disposal are allowed with controls. Taking a benchtop out and reinstalling it counts as installation.

What counts as engineered stone

An artificial product containing 1% or more crystalline silica by weight, made by combining natural stone materials with other chemicals such as resins or pigments, that becomes hardened.

• Caught: quartz and resin slabs, whatever they are called, and anything with 1% or more crystalline silica bound with resin.
• Not caught: porcelain and sintered stone that contain no resin, ceramic tiles, concrete, bricks and pavers, grout and render, plasterboard.
• Not caught: natural stone, because it is not an artificial product. It carries its own asbestos risk.
• Not caught: slabs under 1% crystalline silica, and finished items such as sinks.

How to check it yourself

• Ask what the slab is made of and whether it contains resin.
• Ask for a test of crystalline silica content by X-ray diffraction or petrographic analysis, from a NATA accredited lab or one recognised through NATA's mutual recognition arrangements.
• The sample should come from the actual shipment, taken by a competent person, with photos and batch numbers.
• A declaration from the factory, importer or supplier is not evidence on its own.

What evidence Elje holds per item

• For every benchtop and slab, the material declaration and a silica test report tied to the batch.
• For porcelain and sintered stone, written confirmation that the product contains no resin, backed by the test.
• Engineered stone is never shortlisted, under any name.

The common traps with China-made product

• Quartz and resin slabs rebranded as sintered, porcelain or silica free. Border Force has warned that rebranding to get around the ban will draw enforcement.
• Sintered or porcelain slabs that contain resin, which brings them back inside the ban.
• A silica free label with no test behind it.
• Shipping before holding a permission, if one is needed. Goods without one can be seized.

What to use instead

Porcelain and sintered slabs are good everywhere a benchtop goes, including outdoors. Of the natural stones, quartzite and granite are the hard-wearing ones; marble, travertine, limestone and onyx etch and stain and suit vanities and feature walls better than a busy kitchen. The stone guide rates each one for each place: /guides/stone/.

Questions