About flipping time. Parliament has spoken and the
penalties for Australian Consumer Law (ACL) breaches are getting
higher. Like, a lot higher.
The maximum penalty for companies used to be $1.1M. Now, it will
be the highest of:
- $10M;
- three times the benefit the company received from its
contravention (if the Court can calculate it); or
- 10% of the annual turnover (if the Court can't calculate
the benefit).
The maximum penalty for individuals is also jumping from
$220,000 to $500,000.
For big companies especially (supermarkets, telcos, airlines
we're looking at you) this means megabucks. Scrooge
McDuck's swimming pool full of money kind of megabucks.
That's because these numbers are per contravention. In most
prosecutions the judge finds multiple contraventions. Until now,
that was the only way they could boost the penalty up over
$1.1M.
