What the ACCC does
- We
- We investigate repeated and ongoing consumer problems.
- We
What the ACCC can't do
-
We don’t provide legal advice.
- We don’t resolve individual disputes between consumers and businesses.
Claims
A business must be able to prove any claim they advertise. Claims should be true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds.
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.
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.
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
Businesses sometimes offer cash back promotions, prizes or gifts. These offers are usually time limited and special conditions usually need to be met.
There are some things to look out for before signing up to a customer loyalty scheme.
Gift cards and discount vouchers are an alternative to cash to buy products or services from participating businesses. Gift cards and vouchers must meet some specific requirements.
Online promotional techniques
It’s against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so. There are certain signs that can indicate a review is fake.
Australian Consumer Law applies to social media advertising in the same way as other types of advertising. Businesses must not make false or misleading claims when promoting themselves.
ACCC action on advertising and claims
The ACCC has granted conditional authorisation to allow the major supermarkets to continue their collaboration to manage the soft plastics stockpile and resume in-store collections after REDcycle suspended its recycling operations.
The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Meg’s Flowers Pty Ltd for allegedly breaching the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading representations that it was a local florist, when this was not the case.
The Federal Court has today ordered Booktopia Pty Ltd (Booktopia) pay $6 million in penalties for making false or misleading representations on its website, and in dealings with consumers, about consumer guarantee rights.