Australian Competition And Consumer Commission

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent authority of the government of Australia. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trade Practices Commission (TPC) and the Prices Surveillance Authority to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). Its mandate is to protect consumer rights, business rights and obligations, perform industry regulation and price monitoring and prevent illegal anti-competitive behaviour.

Roles The ACCC administers the Trade Practices Act, and has standing to take action in the Federal Court of Australia to enforce its provision. The Trade Practices Act contains a broad range of provisions, such as provisions on price fixing cartels, misuse of market power, and misleading or deceptive conduct. The ACCC also reviews mergers. The ACCC, under the Act, also regulates certain industries by providing access to national infrastructure. The ACCC also has an educative role and seeks to educate both consumers and businesses as to their rights and responsibilities under the act.

The Australian Energy Regulator is a constituent but separate part of the ACCC and is responsible for economic energy regulation. It shares staff and premises with the ACCC, but has a separate board, although at least one board member must also be a Commissioner at the ACCC.

Restrictive Trade Practices In most cases the spirit of the act, and thus the actions of the ACCC, favours neither consumer nor supplier, but strives to achieve a competitive market without artificial restrictions. For example, refusal of supply, a producer refusing to supply a potential retailer or customer with a product is not itself illegal unless the action would have an anti-competitive effect on the market as a whole.

Penalties The ACCC is vigorous in bringing court actions against companies that breach the TPA. Penalties for non-compliance of the TPA can be quite severe.

Companies that do not comply with the restrictive trade practices provisions of the TPA may be fined by the Federal Court. There are three ways the maximum fine can be calculated. The maximum possible fine is the larger of AU$10,000,000; or three times the value of the illegal benefit; or (if the value of the benefit cannot be ascertained) 10% of turnover for the preceding 12 months. Individuals may be fined up to AU$500,000

Companies that do not comply with the consumer protection provisions of the TPA may be fined by the Federal Court, up to $1.1 million for companies and $220,000 for individuals.

The ACCC also has power to accept, on its on behalf, court enforceable undertakings under s87B of the Trade Practices Act. Such undertakings may include a wide range of remedies to the conduct.

A range of other remedies can be ordered by the court. For example, companies are frequently forced to publish retractions of false advertising claims in national newspapers and at their places of business. Companies found in breach of the TPA are usually bound to implement a compliance program to ensure future compliance with the act.

Although the penalties permitted by the Trade Practices Act are quite severe, there has been a reluctance by the courts to impose the maximum penalty. There has been a move recently to make certain offences under competition law (such as price fixing or participation in a cartel) into criminal offences rather than purely civil breaches. It is generally thought that the possibility of being found guilty of a criminal offence -- and the possibility of a custodial sentence for executives involved -- will provide a much stronger deterrent to anti-competitive behaviour.

Consumer Confidence The ACCC is regarded by some Australian business people as necessary but often ineffective, echoing the critics of United States Anti-trust#Criticism laws, while Australian consumers generally hold the ACCC in high regard. Whilst it is acknowledged that the ACCC is required to help safeguard consumer rights, there has been occasional criticism of the organisation as being "all-talk-no-action". This criticism is most likely due to the inherent difficulty in obtaining sufficient evidence to prove breaches of the RTP provisions of the TPA.

Recently the ACCC has exercised its authority in a number of retail areas, including fining retailer Target (Australia) for false advertising and Woolworths Limited (known as Safeway Australia in Victoria (Australia)) for illegally fixing the price of bread.

Chairpersons

Allan Fels 1995 - 2003
Graeme Samuel 2003 -