The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is highlighting cartel conduct in government procurement, truth in advertising, competition and consumer issues in the health sector and industry codes as some of its compliance and enforcement priorities in 2015.
The ACCC has unveiled the 2015 edition of their Compliance and Enforcement Policy at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) in Sydney, revealing an agenda to ensure penalty sizes are enough to serve as deterrence to others.
The independent Commonwealth statutory authority said the new priorities follow recent commentary that the $11 million penalty given to Flight Centre was “immaterial” and Justice Gordon’s statement that the penalty handed to Coles was “inadequate.”
Admitting to instances of unconscionable conduct against suppliers, Coles agreed to pay $10 million in penalties. Justice Michele expressed her opinion that Coles’ annual revenue, which exceeds $22 billion, made the fine “arguably inadequate for a corporate the size of Coles.”
Chairman Rod Sims said the ACCC’s three enduring priorities are cartel conduct, anti-competitive agreements and practices, and the misuse of market power.
“The detriment caused to both consumers and competition means these forms of conduct will always be in our sights,” Mr Sims said.
“As well as our general focus on detecting and deterring cartels, this year we will focus on cartel activity in government procurement.”
Mr Sims said it was imperative a successful market economy enforce truth in advertising, especially when it comes to big businesses with broad impact.
“Our action in this area serves a dual purpose. When advertising is untruthful consumers are misled, and honest traders are put at a competitive disadvantage.”
Other agendas highlighted in Mr Sims’ speech included competition and consumer issues in the medical and health sector and emerging consumer issues in the online marketplace.
“One problem is significant delays by online businesses in addressing consumer complaints about either the product itself or delivery. We and other ACL regulators will be working with industry to improve responsiveness to consumer concerns.”
Product safety was also pointed out as a priority for the ACCC. Mr Sims said the ACCC would this year seek to lower the quantity of unsafe goods by focusing on “good practice” in the manufacture, importing and quality assurance of consumer products.
