On 24 September 2010, Australia’s consumer protection agencies invited businesses and consumers to comment on draft guides and regulations for the new Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The aims of the guides are to:
- assist businesses in understanding their legal obligations under the ACL in the course of trading and therefore minimise the risk that they will contravene the ACL
- provide information about practices which are governed by the ACL
- explain the ACL as simply as possible, using plain English
- identify types of conduct which, in the agencies’ view, may contravene the ACL.
The draft guides cover:
- General law: covering misleading or deceptive conduct, unconscionable conduct, false or misleading representations and related offences, information standards and country of origin representations.
General law draft guide: [PDF 644KB] [RTF 495KB] - Consumer guarantees: covering what consumer guarantees apply to goods and services, who is responsible for these guarantees and when remedies, such as refund repair and replacement are available.
Consumer guarantees draft guide: [PDF 1.1MB] [RTF 877KB] - Product Safety: covering the new national product safety regime.
Product safety draft guide: [PDF 844KB] [RTF 581KB] - Sales Practices: covering unsolicited supplies, unsolicited consumer agreements, pyramid schemes, multiple pricing, lay-by agreements, referral selling and harassment and coercion.
Sales Practices draft guide: [PDF 821KB] [RTF 790KB]
This consultation closed on 13 October 2010.