The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released a guide to assist businesses in understanding their rights and obligations when making claims about the impact of the carbon price.
According to chairman Rod Sims, the ACCC will play a significant role in policing claims attributing price rises to the carbon tax, and businesses need to know what their responsibilities are.
“Business costs increase all the time, and businesses are free to set their own prices. However, if a business chooses to raise their prices they should not misrepresent this as a result of the carbon price when it is not the case,”
Sims said the Carbon Price Claims guide for business will provide initial assistance to businesses preparing for the implementation of the Carbon Pricing Mechanism.
“This is not new – the message is simple: if you are going to make a claim, you need to make sure it is right.”
Further to this, the ACCC will continue to engage with the business community and develop further guidance for consumers and industry.
“We’ll be consulting on our guidance as we go, over the next few months, and adjusting it to address questions and issues as they become apparent, including on industry or sector-specific subjects,” Sims added.
The Carbon Price Claims guide can be downloaded here.
The Australian Consumer Law provides the ACCC with powers that will be used to investigate the accuracy of claims about the impact of a carbon price. The ACCC may issue a substantiation notice that requires a business to provide information to support any claim it makes about the impact a carbon price.
