Consumer rights

Mosaic Brands pays $630,000 in penalties over COVID-related 'health essentials'

Mosaic Brands Limited, an ASX listed company, has paid penalties totalling $630,000, and admitted that it breached the Australia Consumer Law in its promotion of pandemic-related ‘Health Essential Products’.

Mosaic Brands is the largest speciality fashion retail group in Australia. It owns well-known fashion brands Noni B, Autograph, BeMe, Crossroads, Katies, Millers, Rivers, Rockmans and W.Lane and operates about 1210 stores nationally.

Google misled consumers about the collection and use of location data

The Federal Court has found that Google LLC and Google Australia Pty Ltd (together, Google) misled consumers about personal location data collected through Android mobile devices between January 2017 and December 2018, in a world-first enforcement action brought by the ACCC.

“This is an important victory for consumers, especially anyone concerned about their privacy online, as the Court’s decision sends a strong message to Google and others that big businesses must not mislead their customers,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

Two Propel-owned funeral homes pay penalties for alleged misleading local ownership claims

WT Howard Funeral Services and Coventry Funeral Homes, trading as Fitzgerald’s Funerals, have each paid $12,600 in penalties after the ACCC issued each of the businesses with an infringement notice for allegedly making a false and misleading representation about their ownership. This coincides with the release of an ACCC survey seeking further information about the experiences of consumers and businesses with the funeral services sector.

Law changes needed to tackle market power

Australia must do all it can to align the interests of business and society through sound laws that address some of the more damaging consequences of market power, ACCC Chair Rod Sims said today.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on ‘Tackling Market Power in the Covid-19 Era’, Mr Sims said it was crucial for Australia to tackle the issue of market power as it sought to recover economically from the pandemic and deal with the implications of an ever-growing digital economy.

Court orders $6m in penalties against Bupa and compensation for consumers

The Federal Court has ordered that Bupa Aged Care Australia Pty Ltd (Bupa) pay $6 million in penalties for making misleading representations and wrongly accepting payments for extra services not provided or only provided in part to residents at 20 aged care homes.

The Court has also ordered Bupa by consent to compensate all affected current and past residents within 12 months. Bupa has already commenced paying compensation to affected residents and estimates that it will pay around $18.3 million in total.