Consumer advice

The Federal Court has ruled that the encapsulation in Australia of imported fish oil and Vitamin D by Nature's Care Manufacture Pty Ltd (Nature’s Care) would not permit the capsules to be labelled ‘Made in Australia’ under the Australian Consumer Law’s (ACL) Country of Origin labelling provisions.

“The ACCC is pleased that the approach of the Federal Court is consistent with the guidance the ACCC has given industry about country of origin labelling,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.

Chairman Rod Sims today announced the ACCC’s product safety priorities for 2018 at the National Consumer Congress in Sydney, and reaffirmed support for a general safety provision to be introduced in Australian law to reduce the risk of unsafe goods entering the market.

“Today, I am proud to release a new policy which sets out how the ACCC prioritises and manages product safety risks, and the issues we will target in 2018. As an agency, it is essential that we prioritise our product safety resource allocation,” Mr Sims said.

The opaque pricing of discounts offered on residential mortgage rates makes it difficult for customers to make informed choices and disadvantages borrowers who do not regularly review their choice of lender, a report by the ACCC has found.

The ACCC’s Residential Mortgage Price Inquiry is monitoring the prices charged by the five banks affected by the Government’s Major Bank Levy: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Macquarie Bank Limited, National Australia Bank Limited (NAB), and Westpac Banking Corporation.