The Productivity Commission has released an Issues Paper relating to its study of consumer law enforcement and administration arrangements underpinning the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).
The objective of the study is to examine the effectiveness of the ‘multiple regulator’ model in supporting a single national consumer policy framework including the risk-based approach of regulators to enforcement.
The ACL is jointly enforced and administered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and state and territory consumer agencies. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) administers similar provisions under the ASIC Act in relation to financial products and services.
The ACL is confined to consumer protection issues, such as:
• general consumer rights not to be misled or treated unconscionably when buying goods and services;
• consumer rights in relation to door-to-door and telephone sales, and lay-by agreements;
• ‘unfair terms’ in standard form contracts (for small businesses as well as consumers);
• consumer product safety;
• penalties, enforcement powers and consumer redress options.
The Terms of Reference do not ask the Commission to examine laws, policies or regulations generally that deal with anticompetitive conduct, market structure or pricing regulation (which the ACCC administers, in addition to its role in administering the ACL).
Also the study is not addressing on the content and adequacy of laws and regulations offering consumer protection under the ACL or specialist safety regimes.
The Issues Paper notes that from its preliminary research and consultations, the Commission is aware of a number of potential concerns or challenges around the administration and enforcement of the ACL including:
- the question of whether the current levels of resources devoted to consumer protection are appropriate and commensurate to the risks being managed;
- given their limited resources, regulators must make difficult choices at the margin between, for example, pursuing additional prosecutions rather than additional business and community education around consumer law matters;
- whether communication and cooperation between ASIC and the other Commonwealth and state and territory ACL regulators, and the coordination of their enforcement activities, is operating effectively;
- there is no national database of serious complaints and cases.
The Terms of Reference include examining the roles of specialist safety regulatory regimes in protecting consumers, their interaction with ACL regulators and the extent to which the responsibilities of different regulators are clear.
Specialist safety regimes and their regulators exist in the following areas:
• Agriculture – Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority
• Boats and marine safety – Australian Maritime Safety Authority
• Building and building materials – for example, Consumer Affairs Victoria, NSW Fair Trading, Queensland Building and Construction Commission, SA Office of the Technical Regulator, Victorian Building Authority
• Drugs and therapeutic goods – Therapeutic Goods Administration
• Electrical appliances and goods – for example, Energy Safe Victoria, NT Worksafe, Dept. of Business, Queensland Electrical Safety Office
• Food – Food Standards Australia and New Zealand, Prime Safe (Victoria), Therapeutic Goods Administration
• Gas appliances – for example, Energy Safe Victoria, SA Office of the Technical Regulator, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, WA Department of Commerce (Energy Safety)
• Motor vehicle and road traffic safety (Transport) – Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (Cth)
• Veterinary products – Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority.
