A further six major companies have had Public Compliance Commitments accepted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.
"This brings to 20 the number of companies that have Public Compliance Commitments on the Public Register, and announcements of other commitments are expected shortly", he said.
"The Commitments announced today cover a wide variety of industries, including food, consumer goods, finance and insurance, manufacturing and energy. The Commitments to be registered are from:
- Mr Robert Nilsen, Managing Director, Tricon Restaurants Australia;
- Mr Mario Argenti, Managing Director, Estee Lauder;
- Mr David Moffitt, Managing Director, GE Capital;
- Mr Thomas J Degnan, Chief Executive, Burns Philp;
- Mr Kim Griffiths, Chief Executive Officer, Ergon Energy Corporation; and
- Mr David Hind and Mr Greg Sedgwick, Directors, BOC Gases Australia.
"A Public Compliance Commitment involves a clear statement of a corporation's intent to:
- comply with the principles of Part VB of the Trade Practices Act 1974, namely not to engage in price exploitation in relation to the New Tax System changes;
- comply with the Price Exploitation Guidelines;
- pass on to consumers any cost benefits realised as a result of the tax changes;
- advertise and display consumer prices on a GST-inclusive basis in a manner which is not misleading or deceptive; and
- extend its trade practices compliance program to cover the New Tax System changes.
"The Commitment relates to the methods that the company is employing to assess costs and adjust prices in compliance with the ACCC's Price Exploitation Guidelines. Registration of the Commitment follows lengthy discussions between the company and the ACCC.
"The ACCC's registration of a Public Compliance Commitment is not endorsement by the ACCC of any specific pricing decisions made by corporations during the period of transition in implementing the New Tax System changes", Professor Fels said.
"Companies will make their own pricing decisions and will need to explain the basis for these decisions to their customers".
Registration of a Public Compliance Commitment does not preclude the ACCC taking enforcement action under the price exploitation provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 if the circumstances warrant it.
However, feedback from business has indicated that the Public Compliance Commitment process is an invaluable one for the companies as it enables early discussion and identification of their costing and pricing issues and reduces uncertainty.
An important part of the Commitment is the ongoing reporting to the ACCC. The companies will report to the ACCC every six months so that the ACCC can ensure that they adhere to the Commitment during the transition period to the New Tax System.
The ACCC will rigorously review adherence to the Commitments.
The companies have also committed to put in place customer complaints handling processes and streamlined procedures for dealing with matters raised by the ACCC.