The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted court enforceable undertakings from the Australian Association of Agricultural Consultants (WA) Inc regarding its requirement that members charge their clients minimum recommended fees, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
The association first implemented a recommended fee scale in 1989. The fee scale set minimum hourly rates for consultants, depending on their experience, and also set minimum rates for specific tasks undertaken by consultants.
Members who did not comply with the recommended fee scale could be reprimanded, fined or disqualified from membership.
The ACCC understands that approximately half of the agricultural consultants in Western Australia are members of the association and so were bound by the fee scale. However, it appears that no member of the association has ever been punished for failing to comply with the recommended fee scale.
"Recommended fee scales can raise concerns about price-fixing, which is prohibited by the Trade Practices Act 1974”, Mr Samuel said. "This recommended fee scale may have stopped agricultural consultants in WA from offering lower prices to their clients".
After the ACCC raised its concerns with the association, the association implemented a review of its instruments (including its Constitution and Code of Ethics) and removed the recommended fee scale from its website.
The association has now undertaken:
- not to engage in similar conduct in the future
- to write to its members, advising them of the outcome of the ACCC's investigation
- to provide trade practices training to the association's officer bearers and
- to complete the review of its instruments and forward to its members copies of the revised instruments.
"This undertaking means that people who engage agricultural consultants in WA will now be able to negotiate appropriate prices for a range of consulting services" Mr Samuel said.