What the ACCC does

  • We provide general guidance to businesses and consumers about consumer law.
  • We investigate repeated and ongoing consumer problems.
  • We take reports from people about possible issues under consumer law about false or misleading claims.

What the ACCC can't do

  • We don’t provide legal advice.

  • We don’t investigate individual complaints.
  • We don’t resolve individual disputes between consumers and businesses.

Claims

False or misleading claims

Businesses shouldn't try to gain an unfair advantage by making misleading claims about their products or services.

Country of origin claims

When buying goods, consumers may be influenced by claims about where a product was grown, produced or made. Claims must be true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds.

Country of origin food labelling

Businesses that sell or supply food for retail sale in stores, markets, online or from vending machines will likely need to comply with the Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard 2016 (Standard).

Environmental and sustainability claims

Consumers buying products that claim environmental benefits should be able to trust the claims made. Misleading, false or deceptive environmental claims are against the law.

Organic claims

Consumers purchasing organic products should be able to trust the claims made. Misleading, false or deceptive organic claims are against the law.

Where special rules apply

Gift cards and discount vouchers

Gift cards and discount vouchers are an alternative to cash to buy products or services. Businesses that supply gift cards and vouchers must meet some specific requirements.

Online promotional techniques

Online product and service reviews

It’s against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so. Businesses can avoid misleading consumers by following a few guidelines.

Social media promotions

Businesses must not make false or misleading claims when promoting themselves on social media.

ACCC action on advertising and claims

The Good Guys in court over allegedly misleading store credit promotions

The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against The Good Guys Discount Warehouses (Australia) Pty Ltd, for allegedly making false or misleading representations about their store credit and ‘StoreCash’ promotions, and failing to provide store credit to eligible consumers, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
See media releases on advertising and promotions