Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Australian competition commission’s annual report highlights effective enforcement, (Oct 30, 2014)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced today that it has released its annual report for 2013-2014, showing that the agency was involved in 53 consumer protection enforcement proceedings, increased competition enforcement, and sent strong deterrence messages by securing over AUD $12 million in penalties and other remedies during the year.

According to the annual report of the ACCC and the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), at the end of June 2014, the ACCC had seven cases alleging cartel conduct before the courts. The ACCC has taken court action against cartel conduct operating in the market for ball bearings used in motor vehicles and industrial applications. The Federal Court ordered NSK Australia Pty Ltd and Koyo Australia Pty Ltd to pay AUD $3 million and AUD $2 million, respectively.

The ACCC compliance and enforcement policy prioritizes protecting vulnerable consumers, including ensuring that Indigenous Australians have the same protections as non-Indigenous Australians. In April 2014, Startel Communication Co Pty Ltd was ordered, by consent, to pay AUD $320,000 for misleading consumers about their rights under the Australian Consumer Law when cold calling consumers. The investigation was initiated by a complaint made during an ACCC outreach visit to a remote Indigenous community.

An important area of work for the ACCC is protecting consumers from the potential significant harm that can be caused by unsafe products. A total of 267 recalls of consumer goods were received by the ACCC in 2013–14. The ACCC remained vigilant in taking enforcement action to ensure compliance with product safety standards, the report stated.

The ACCC also helped protect and inform small business operators, both through its many engagement activities and through enforcement actions. This included securing an order against Taxsmart Group Pty Ltd, Taxsmart Franchising Pty Ltd and Resultsmart Pty Ltd to repay AUD $260,400 in franchise fees to five former franchisees for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct.

The ACCC played a critical role in assessing mergers to determine whether they will lead to a substantial lessening of competition in any market. The ACCC considered 297 matters and conducted a public review of 48 mergers and a confidential review of seven, a decrease of 25 per cent on public reviews and decrease of 42 per cent on confidential reviews in 2012-2013.

In 2014 the ACCC accepted NBN Co.’s Special Access Undertaking, which is a key part of the framework for prices and other terms of services supplied to access seekers over the NBN until 2040. The ACCC also approved a range of measures to protect competition and consumers during the migration to the NBN.

The process of regulating fixed line services continued and has promoted competition over bottleneck infrastructure to the benefit of Australian consumers.

“The ACCC will continue to take action where it believes there is significant consumer detriment or there is a risk to competition to ensure that businesses are compliant with the Australian Consumer Law,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims. “We have recently focused on comparator websites and traders incrementally disclosing fees and charges, referred to as drip pricing. Cases against airlines will shortly be joined by both business and consumer guidance about price comparison websites.”

News: Antitrust