On 18 August the Federal Government released draft legislation proposing increases in the maximum penalties that apply to companies and individuals under Competition and Consumer Laws.
Penalties ordered by Courts have increased rapidly for consumer law infringements in recent years and these changes will further this trend.
The proposed maximum penalty for companies, in respect of a contravention of a competition or consumer law would be raised to the greatest of
- $50 million;
- Three times the value of the benefit obtained; and
- 30% of the company’s adjusted turnover during the breach turnover period for the offence.
The new maximum penalty for an individual would be $2.5 million. Many cases we have reported this year have involved the ACCC bringing proceedings for misleading conduct arising from consumer complaints. As such, directors and executive teams should consider their competition and consumer law policies, and their sales and pricing teams training on competition and consumer law risks.