ACCC

👋 We're signing off for 2024, but not before sharing our appreciation for your contribution to our LinkedIn community this year. Our website can help with any consumer or competition issues while we're offline. Have a safe and happy holiday season and we’ll see you in 2025. https://bit.ly/4fwGkgP

EY CDR Nexus Pty Ltd and Experian Australia Pty Ltd are now accredited data recipients under the Consumer Data Right. Learn more about the Consumer Data Right here: https://bit.ly/3P6UdYE

Is your business advertising sales over the Christmas and Boxing Day period? Make sure you don’t mislead consumers about the prices of your products or services. Here's some examples of what not to do: ❌ Say a price is a sale or special price, when it is actually the normal price. ❌ Say a displayed price is marked down from an earlier price when this is not true. ❌ Advertise only part of a price. Make sure you include known taxes, duties and unavoidable extra fees. Businesses shouldn't try to gain an unfair advantage this holiday season by making misleading claims about their products and services. Any information or claim that businesses provide about their products and services must be accurate, truthful and based on reasonable grounds. Learn more: https://bit.ly/41Klg3s

We recognise that as Australia transforms to a more sustainable economy, there may be instances where businesses seek to work together to address sustainability issues more effectively and rapidly. Today we released our final guide on sustainability collaborations and competition law. The guide is designed to increase your understanding of where competition law risks are less likely to arise when collaborating to improve sustainability outcomes in your business. It also provides information on what exemptions are available for business collaborations. “These guidelines do not change the law but are intended to provide greater clarity to businesses on the laws relating to collaborations. They also explain what the existing competition authorisation regime offers” - ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver. https://bit.ly/41GaHyq

We’ve updated our Immunity and cooperation policy for cartel conduct, increasing transparency and certainty about how the immunity program is administered and to clarify the requirements for applicants. The Immunity Policy is one of our key strategies for detecting, stopping and deterring cartels. Cartels increase prices, stifle innovation and reduce choice for Australian consumers. We’ve consulted extensively with relevant parties and harnessed the knowledge and experience gained in administering the Immunity Policy since it was last updated in October 2019. “Our targeted improvements to the Immunity Policy offer certainty and clarity to applicants about their obligations and the way the policy is administered.” – ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver. More information about cartels and the cartel immunity process is available here: https://bit.ly/4glTwq4

We’re considering some of these examples for investigation and action, and we’ve already asked a number of retailers to justify their advertising claims. In the meantime, we’re warning retailers ahead of post-Christmas sales that they must comply with Australian Consumer Law in all the claims they make. “We know that many consumers rely on sales to save money when shopping for products, especially during this time of cost of living pressure, and when people may be seeking to save up for holidays and festivities. Retailers must not seek to take advantage of this by misleading consumers.” - ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe. https://bit.ly/4fuvvw4

Western Australian horticulture wholesaler Galati has paid $62,600 in penalties after we issued it with 4 infringement notices for alleged contraventions of the Horticulture Code. We alleged that Galati breached the Code by trading with at least four growers without a horticulture produce agreement in place. “A horticulture produce agreement must be in place before a grower and trader can start trading, as it sets out the key terms and conditions of their commercial relationship. When traders haven’t put in place a written agreement that sets out the terms, quality parameters and what happens in the event of a dispute, growers are left without access to the full protections provided by the Code.” - ACCC Commissioner Mick Keogh. Galati also provided a court-enforceable undertaking, which we’ve accepted, to implement a compliance program, and to ensure they have a signed agreement with, or written notice of acceptance of, the terms of an agreement from each of its growers. https://bit.ly/3OXXglJ

Our Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb attended the OECD - OCDE Competition Committee Meetings and Global Forum on Competition in Paris last week (2-6 December). During the week Gina gave a presentation on our Childcare Inquiry during a Hearing on the Care Industry. She summarised our findings about the childcare market, and recommendations to government to improve affordability and accessibility to care in Australia. Gina also talked about Competition in the Food Supply Chain, drawing on the interim report of our Supermarkets Inquiry. She explained how we are examining the pricing practices of the Australian supermarkets and the relationship between wholesale and retail prices. You can read the interim Supermarkets Inquiry report here: https://bit.ly/4gxSUgN We’re thankful for the opportunity to attend this forum of regulatory and competition experts to showcase the work of our agency at a global level.

We’ve started civil cartel proceedings in the Federal Court against Spotless Facility Services, Ventia Australia and 4 senior executives, for alleged price fixing relating to estate maintenance and operation services for the Department of Defence. Spotless and Ventia each provide services to Defence under separate billion-dollar contracts to over 200 major Australian Defence Force bases and other properties across Australia, including Lavarack Barracks, Victoria Barracks, Royal Military College Duntroon, Puckapunyal and numerous RAAF bases. “The allegations in this case relate to alleged conduct by two large, sophisticated companies providing services which are critical to the operation of Australian Defence facilities under longstanding, publicly funded Defence procurement contracts.” - ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3BoEDnS

Online florist Meg’s Flowers has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay penalties of $1 million for making misleading representations that it was a local florist located in each of the localities referred to in 156 websites and in 7,462 Google ads. In fact, Meg’s Flowers did not directly maintain any local shopfronts accessible to customers. Orders placed with Meg’s Flowers were fulfilled from any one of 11 Meg’s Flowers premises, or, in some instances, by subcontractors. “By making misleading claims about the location of the florists, Meg’s Flowers denied some consumers the opportunity to make an informed decision to support a local business, and likely denied truly local businesses the opportunity to make a sale to those consumers.” - ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver. https://bit.ly/4gaTVvp