Fifth Progress Report on Australian Consumer Law Released
Monday 22 February 2016 @ 11.46 a.m. | Legal Research | Trade & Commerce
Last Friday (19 February 2016), the fifth report on the progress of the Australian Consumer Law was released. The report includes information about national education and information sharing activities as well as compliance and enforcement initiatives.
Background - The Australian Consumer Law
The full text of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) is set out in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and in Acts in each state and territory. The ACL includes:
- core consumer protection provisions prohibiting misleading or deceptive conduct, unconscionable conduct and unfair contract terms;
- specific prohibitions or regulation of unfair practices including pyramid selling, unsolicited supplies of goods and services, component pricing and the provision of bills and receipts;
- an integrated and harmonised legal framework for unsolicited selling, including door-to-door trading and telephone sales;
- a national law for consumer product safety;
- a system of statutory consumer guarantees; and
- enforcement and consumer redress provisions.
Multiple Regulator Model of the ACL
The ACL operates under a ‘multiple regulator model.’ This means that a uniform Commonwealth, state and territory law is administered jointly by the ACCC and by state and territory consumer affairs agencies. ACL regulators collaborate to ensure dispute resolution, compliance and enforcement are consistent and coordinated across Australia. ASIC administers similar provisions under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) in relation to financial services. These regulators have complementary roles.
Outcome of the Report
The report contains 41 case studies and, according to the NSW Media Release from the Department of Finances, Services and Innovation, "In the 2014-15 year ACL enforcement outcomes included $42 million in penalties, fines, costs and compensation."
NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Stowe said the progress report charted the good work being done by consumer protection regulators across the country and provided case studies showing how effective agencies had been in administering the law:
“There is a really important story to tell about the success of the multiple regulator model established under the ACL...
This report shows the strength of the cooperative model and how it reduces duplication and improves consistency in the use of resources, cutting costs for government and taxpayers."
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