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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent Australian commonwealth government authority established in 1995 to protect consumer rights, business rights and obligations, perform industry regulation and price monitoring and prevent unauthorised anti-competitive behaviour. The ACCC administers the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA).
The ACCC wields a substantial amount of power in the Australian commercial realm. It has legislative and judicial power to enforce a broad range of anti-competitive commerical issues, including powers to counter price fixing cartels, non_factual claims in advertizing, monopolies, refusal of supply, and undue harrassment in debt collection.
In most cases the spirit of the act, and thus the actions of the ACCC, favours neither consumer or 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-compeditive effect on the market as a whole. Conversly practices which are invariably anti-compeditive are always illegal, such as price fixing and non-factual advertizing.
Penalties for non-compliance of the TPA can be quite severe. These penalties are usualy imposed without the involvement of the court system, except in the case of non-compliance or dispute. Companies who do not comply with the Trade Practices Act can be fined up to $10 million, and individuals may be fined up to $500 thousand. The ACCC also has powers to enforce restitutive actions to the affected parties, for example companies are frequently forced to publish retractions of false advertizing claims in national newspapers and at their place of business. Companies found in breach of the TPA are usualy bound to implement a compliance program to ensure future compliance with the act.
Chairmen
External links Official ACCC website (http://www.accc.gov.au/)
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