ACCC Archives - Page 2 of 28 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

7 May , 2025

Mandatory information standard for toppling furniture now in affect

Furniture suppliers are now required to provide safety warnings to consumers about the dangers of toppling furniture after the mandatory information standard for toppling furniture came into effect on 4 May 2025. Since the year 2000 at least 28 people, including 17 children under five, have died in Australia from toppling furniture and televisions. Each year more…

30 April , 2025

National Anti-Scam Centre warns that criminal ‘account compromised’ scams are on the rise

The National Anti-Scam Centre has seen a significant rise in financial criminals targeting Australians in phishing scams that scare people to believe that their bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets have been hacked or compromised. These scams use a sense of urgency and fear to make people act quickly and use phrases such as ‘account compromised’,…

23 April , 2025

Federal Court finds Qteq and Simon Ashton engaged in ‘cartel conduct’

The Federal Court has today found oil and gas services company Qteq Pty Ltd and its executive chairman Simon Ashton engaged in cartel conduct in relation to the supply of goods and services in the oil and gas industry, following court action by the ACCC. The Court found that between 2017 and 2019, on five…

23 April , 2025

ACCC’s draft authorises collaboration on sustainable finance initiatives

The ACCC has released a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation with conditions to allow the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) and industry participants to collaborate on sustainable finance initiatives for five years. ASFI is seeking authorisation for itself, ASFI members and other industry participants to exchange information to improve the integration of natural capital…

22 April , 2025

Apparel business admits to illegal activity

The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from apparel business Hard Rock Enterprises Pty Ltd in which it admitted to engaging in resale price maintenance and making false or misleading representations about consumers’ rights to return faulty or incorrect products. Hard Rock is an Australian business which sells blank apparel to retailers on a wholesale…

14 April , 2025

Unsolicited door-to-door sales the target of Australia’s first Designated Complaint

Consumer Action Law Centre is calling for a nationwide ban on unsolicited selling in the first ever designated ‘super’ complaint presented to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). A designated complaint is a new power that allows complainants to raise an issue with the ACCC, which the ACCC is required to consider and come back with…

31 March , 2025

Advocates welcome ACCC Supermarket Inquiry unit pricing recommendations

The Queensland Consumers Association (QCA) has welcomed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) recognition of the need to greatly improve the national grocery unit pricing system in the final report of its supermarket inquiry released today. Unit pricing, (the price per unit of measure – for example $1.41 per 100g for a 765g packet…

20 March , 2025

ACCC opens consultation on assessment guidelines for merger reform

The ACCC has marked a further milestone in the transition steps towards the new merger regime with the release of the draft merger assessment guidelines for consultation. The merger assessment guidelines outline the analytical framework the ACCC will apply when assessing notified acquisitions under the new regime, reflecting best practice for competition assessments. While the new regime…

13 March , 2025

Scam losses fall, but the cost is still too high

Consumer Action Law Centre says a report released today from the National Anti-Scam Centre, Targeting scams, reveals a welcome fall in the value of reported scams losses for 2024 (down by 25.9% to $2.03 billion). Still, the huge sum lost by nearly half a million victims, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, is deeply concerning. “While…

21 February , 2025

ACCC releases 2025-26 enforcement and compliance priorities

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has stressed the positive impacts of a competitive economy for consumers as she outlined the agency’s priorities for the 2025-26 financial year. Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Sydney today, Ms Cass-Gottlieb outlined the agency’s annual compliance and enforcement priorities which include working decisively on consumer…

31 January , 2025

Joint media release from Australian and Philippines authorities as over 5,000 Australians receive text warnings over a romance scam

This is a joint media release between the AFP, National Anti-Scam Centre, Philippines Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and National Bureau of Investigation Editor’s note: Text message screenshot, images from investigation, and audio grabs from AFP Commander Graeme Marshall are available via Hightail Authorities have texted more than 5000 potential victims in Australia to warn they may…

7 January , 2025

Electricity Inquiry finds no reward for loyalty

The ACCC is urging consumers to shop around or at least to contact their electricity provider to ask if a cheaper electricity plan is available, following a decline in retail electricity prices in 2024 that many households are not currently benefiting from. More than 80 per cent of Australian households in the National Electricity Network…