Fair Trading Amendment (Fuel Price Transparency) Act 2016
Friday 15 April 2016 @ 12.03 p.m. | Legal Research
The New South Wales Fair Trading Amendment (Fuel Price Transparency) Act 2016 was assented on 6 April 2016. The Act amends the NSW Fair Trading Act 1987 to provide for the establishment of a scheme for the publication of service station fuel prices. The Act was originally tabled in Parliament by Fair Trading Minister Victor Dominello and mandates the real-time online posting of petrol prices by all service stations across NSW.
The use of new technology to provide transparency around petrol prices will be the first of its kind in Australia. Essentially, the Act brings fuel pricing into the digital age. In his second reading speech for the Bill to the Act, Mr. Dominello said:
“Consumers and families do not have the option simply not to consume fuel. That is why it is so important to ensure that consumers are informed, and therefore empowered, to make decisions to reduce cost of living pressures associated with this non-discretionary product…The system proposed in this bill will allow for information to be shared within a very short timeframe and will be updated whenever the petrol station's fuel boards are change.”
The Act will force all fuel retailers in NSW, whether large or small, to update information in real-time. The Act itself has been endorsed by fuel retailers as well as Motorist Groups such as the NRMA. NRMA President Kyle Loades said:
“This legislation opens the shutters and lets the sun shine on an industry that has been hidden from public view for too long.”
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Sources:
Fair Trading Amendment (Fuel Price Transparency) Act 2016 and Secondary Materials as reproduced in TimeBase LawOne
