The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has imposed strict conditions on the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery's Code of Practice to ensure that it operates effectively.
The code contains advertising guidelines and guidelines for informed consent which college members will be required to follow, as well as processes to deal with complaints.
In February the ACCC issued a draft determination proposing to deny authorisation for the code. In response the college has substantially revised the code.
"The revised code is a significant improvement on the original code submitted to the ACCC by the College of Cosmetic Surgery," Acting ACCC Chairman, Mr Peter Kell, said.
"Adoption of many of the provisions of the revised code will assist consumers to make informed choices about cosmetic procedures and will assist in raising college members' awareness of their professional and ethical responsibilities.
"However, for the code to offer benefits to consumers it is important that it is complied with and effectively enforced and is clearly seen to be effectively enforced," he said.
"To ensure this is the case, and to address some other concerns raised by interested parties, the ACCC has imposed a number of conditions."
Broadly, these conditions require:
- amendments to the code's processes for considering complaints and appeals about the conduct of college members to provide for greater external oversight of the processes and greater transparency in decision making
- the adoption of strict time-frames for the code to be implemented and for college members to be informed of their obligations under the code. This includes the college immediately commencing checks of members' compliance with the code and reporting their findings to the ACCC and the appointment of an independent auditor within six months to monitor continuing compliance, and
- strengthening of the code's processes for independent auditing of, and reporting on, compliance with the code by college members. The independent auditor will produce annual reports for the college and the ACCC on code compliance. The college will also be required to provide the ACCC, and make publicly available, annual reports providing details of matters considered by the college's complaints and appeals panels
"The ACCC considers that, subject to the conditions of authorisation imposed by the ACCC being complied with, the code will produce public benefits. These will arise because the code will help promote the provision of accurate and complete information to consumers considering cosmetic procedures, and the ethical and professional conduct of college members."
For this reason the ACCC decided to authorise the code, subject to these conditions, rather than deny authorisation. The code has been authorised for three years.
Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Broadly, the ACCC may grant authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment. The ACCC conducts a comprehensive public consultation process and issues a draft determination before making a decision to grant or deny authorisation.
The authorisation process is set out in the Act and only indicates that a code passes a certain legal test. Authorisation does not indicate that a code is best practice, and this decision does not indicate an endorsement or approval by the ACCC of the college's Code of Practice.
The ACCC's final determination, which includes a copy of the code and details of the conditions imposed by the ACCC, will be available from the ACCC website, by following the Public registers and Authorisations and notifications registers links.