As the ACCC will have limited operations during the Christmas and New Year period, we wanted to provide you with details of arrangements over the break.
ACCC offices: Our offices will be closed from 5pm on Wednesday 23 December 2020 until 8:30am on Monday 4 January 2021.
The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Lorna Jane Pty Ltd for alleged false or misleading claims about its ‘Anti-virus Activewear’, in breach of Australian Consumer Law.
In July 2020, Lorna Jane claimed that its ‘Anti-virus Activewear’, which was sprayed with a substance called ‘LJ Shield’, eliminated and stopped the spread of COVID-19 and provided protection against viruses and pathogens, including COVID-19, when this was not the case.
The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from electricity retailer 1st Energy Pty Ltd in relation to representations made to consumers in Tasmania during unsolicited telemarketing calls.
Between 18 February and 23 August 2019, third party sales representatives for 1st Energy cold-called Tasmanian residential energy customers who had accounts with the state’s incumbent electricity provider Aurora Energy, and offered them a five per cent discount for paying on time.
Australia’s commercial airlines are operating at a fraction of their pre-COVID-19 capacity but there is growing optimism within the industry as demand for interstate travel increases.
The ACCC’s second Airline Competition in Australia report, released today, shows total passenger numbers for the month of September 2020 were 87 per cent lower than September last year, and airline industry revenues were commensurately lower.
The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Facebook, Inc. and two of its subsidiaries for false, misleading or deceptive conduct when promoting Facebook’s Onavo Protect mobile app to Australian consumers.
Onavo Protect was a free downloadable software application providing a virtual private network (VPN) service.
ACCC Chair Rod Sims has welcomed Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's announcement today that Anna Brakey and Peter Crone will join the agency as Commissioners.
Ms Brakey and Mr Crone have both been appointed for five year terms.
Ms Brakey brings to the ACCC extensive experience in infrastructure regulation. She joins the ACCC from Frontier Economics, after spending over 20 years at the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, including as Chief Operating Officer and then as a Tribunal Member.
The Federal Court has ordered Kogan Australia Pty Ltd (Kogan) to pay a penalty of $350,000 for making false or misleading representations about a tax time sales promotion, in breach of Australian Consumer Law.
In July 2020, the Court found that Kogan had misled consumers by advertising over a period of four days that they could use the code ‘TAXTIME’ to reduce prices by 10 per cent at checkout, when Kogan had increased the prices of 621 products immediately before the promotion.
The ACCC has instituted Federal Court civil proceedings against construction company J Hutchinson Pty Ltd (Hutchinson) and the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) over alleged boycott conduct at a building site in Brisbane.
The proceedings relate to an alleged agreement in 2016 between Hutchinson and the CFMMEU, in which Hutchinson allegedly agreed to terminate the contract of an independent waterproofing subcontractor working on the Southpoint A Apartments construction project in South Brisbane.
The ACCC has issued a public warning notice about the alleged conduct of Dismissals Direct Pty Ltd, trading as Unfair Dismissals Direct, a company that represented employees in unfair dismissal claims before the Fair Work Commission until earlier this year. Mr John Bingham is the sole director of Unfair Dismissals Direct.
Unfair Dismissals Direct did not offer legal services, but acted as a paid agent on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis and deducted its fees from any final settlement for clients.
The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Limited to take a number of steps to review and improve its compliance processes in relation to the Australian Consumer Law consumer guarantees.