Recent Competition And Consumer Law Changes At A Glance

In case you have not had the opportunity to read our latest updates or are otherwise unsure of recent changes in Australian competition and consumer law, we summarise below five topics that should be on your radar.

1. Clarity in pricing

On 25 May of this year, a new section 53C of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (Act) (and a new version of its criminal counterpart) came into effect. It was introduced in an attempt to quell the use of component pricing (such as advertising the cost of an international flight but not disclosing, or not prominently disclosing, the associated taxes and charges). A form of component pricing was already prohibited by the Act. However, many felt that there were limits to its ability to prevent certain misleading pricing behaviours. The new law requires corporations to prominently specify, as a single figure, what a consumer must pay to obtain goods or services. The provisions are concerned with business to consumer transactions and do