A person who is found to have breached certain provisions of the ACL, such as the prohibition against false or misleading representations, may be liable to pay a civil pecuniary penalty:

For corporations, will be the greater of:

  • $10 million
  • three times the value of the benefit received, or
  • 10% of annual turnover in preceding 12 months, if court cannot determine benefit obtained from the offence.

For individuals:

  • $500 000.

A civil penalty is a financial penalty and is designed to deter the person and others from breaching the law.

A penalty may only be imposed by the court once it has found that the person has breached the ACL at the civil standard of proof. This means that the person must be proved to have breached the ACL on the balance of probabilities, that is, that the conduct was more likely to have occurred than not.