Australian Consumer Law Protects Fair Trading Practices

The principle of unconscianbility within Australian consumer law was applied most notably in the case of Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd v Amadio. These judgments later played a role in determining the outcome of the Kakavas v Crown Melbourne Ltd, whereby the High court considered the principles and outcomes from the first case in the latter. Unconscionable conduct is concerned with the abuse of a dominant position by one contracting party over a weaker contracting party. When determining if this principle of unconscionable conduct has occurred, three main principled must be assed:

The Australian Consumer Law ‘guarantees consumer rights for goods and services’ which are represented under section 29. (Commonwealth of Australia ,2016). This section is similar to section 18, in the sense that it regulates misleading or false promotions. However, in this case, this section regulates goods and services and prevents businesses from unfair transactions. Having such laws implemented assists with the regulation of society as people are able to escape situations when treated unfairly. This was shown in the Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission case as Nationwide misled its customers by advertising a ‘free’ mobile phone through the newspaper. In order to receive the ‘free’ phone, the customer first had to sign into a contract which involved a ‘total expenditure of $2,294.90.’ ( Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, pp. 7). However Nationwide was then convicted for 6 offences and charged $120,000 for their breach of section 29 of the ACL. The Federal Court explain that ‘any respect in which goods or services offered as “free” may not be free should be prominently and clearly spelled out so that the magnetism of the word “free” is appropriately qualified.’ Section 29 can be breached through false advertisement or orally. Through these sections and scenarios, it can be seen that

The Federal Trade Commission enforces a variety of federal antitrust and consumer protection laws. The Commission seeks to

This is act was established in order to provide fairness and equality to all consumers and to protect them from unfair and unethical marketing. This act has numerous rights which aid in the protection of the consumer such as:

This essay will review the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (as amended) (‘CPUTs’) to assess how they are responsible for the operation of the Internal Market and consider whether the CPUTs have accomplished its objective of consumer protection. This essay will first explain the Internal Market and the significance of regulation and then proceed to demonstrate how the CPUTs enable the Internal Market to function properly and its protection of consumers.

The Competition and Consumer Act is a major legislation that restricts unethical business marketing practices in Australia. It helps to protect consumers against unethical practices in which they may be misled or discriminated against and also to regulate certain trade practices that restrict competition in the market in order to sustain choice for the consumer.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent Commonwealth statutory authority whose role is to enforce the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (ACCC, 2015). The ACCC promotes competition as it increases the prosperity and welfare of consumers and it also promotes fair trading and regulating national infrastructure for the benefit of all Australians. As the ACCC is there to benefit Australian consumers, they will take action to any business that breaches what they enforce which includes anything to improve consumer welfare, protect competition or stop conduct that is anti-competitive or harmful to consumers.

For the last 100 years a single federal agency has stood to protect the american consumers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established as an administrative government agency that was created by congress to enforce the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA). The FTCA gives authorities the power to prohibit unfair methods of competition as a means to protect consumers. The Commission’s mission is dual objective, protect consumers and promote competition. Therefore, we will explore the history of the FTC and how the FTCA has been its foundation. Next, we will look at Section 5 of the FTCA and how it protects consumers.

Building Law Assignment – Essay The Australian Consumer Law is an important part of society today as it helps enforce fair trading and consumer protection. This is achieved by informing consumers of their rights when purchasing any goods or service, and by informing sellers on what they can and can’t do. The Australian Consumer Law is just as significant in the development and construction industry as it is in any other industry. There are many areas in the development and construction industry that are governed by the Australian Consumer Law.

These regulations apply by holding the seller of good and services accountable when they seek a profit by taking advantage of a person’s lack of knowledge. Businesses that provide goods and services must comply with these consumer guarantees; which include the right to safety, with trust that the products

I agree with the points Emma raised above. Whilst the Australian Consumer Law provides relatively adequate protection for consumers there are ethical issues that the law fails to consider. Emma raised a very noteworthy example in that false or misleading conduct is deemed to illegal under section 18. However, advertisements which are deemed legal contains ambiguity, concealment of relevant facts, exaggeration and phycological appeals which are all unethical techniques that advertisers use. Furthermore, Australian Consumer law does not prevent advertisements from being targeted at young children who are particularly susceptible to the unrealistic images portrayed in the commercials. Harvard business professor Theadore Levitt argues advertising

The law of unfair terms in consumer contracts have experienced changes over the years, the most significant of which was the Consumer Rights Act which came into effect on October 1st 2015. However, before the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015), unfair terms in consumer contracts were covered under two pieces of legislation; the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977(UCTA 1977) and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCR 1999) . The UCTA 1977 and UTCCR 1999 provided liability for transactions occurring in the course of a business as well as business and consumer contracts. Both UCTA 1977 and UTCCR 1999 provided protection for consumers from terms in a contract so as to prevent them from being at a disadvantage for not read contractual terms and conditions. The UCTA 1977 defined a consumer under s.12 (1) (a); as a party dealing not in the course of a business and not holding himself to do so; while in s12 (1) (b) the other party is acting in the course of a business. The UTCCR’s definition was very narrow, Regulation 3 stated that a consumer must be a natural person that is not a legal person e.g. a company who contracts outside his business.

Slater&Gordon is an Australian consumer law firm. It provides wide range of services in personal injury and general law areas. In 2012 Slater&Gordon started its expansion to United Kingdom market by acquiring local law firms, and successfully increased its market share. In 2013-2014 company continued its acquisition program in Australia and UK, demonstrating stable growth in revenue and earnings per share. In 2014 only 56% of its revenue were coming from Australian market, when the remaining 44% are generated in UK. Presently, Slater&Gordon is concentrating on improving its efficiency by integration and consolidation of its practises and growth of its presence on international market.

This essay will analyse the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (‘CRA 2015’) as it is a significant element of the government’s reform of consumer law in the UK. The Act has been lauded as an immense upheaval of consumer law due to the integration of eight existing pieces of legislation into one. The complicated regulations regarding goods and services that consumers and businesses struggle to comprehend will no longer apply under the Act.

Consumer protection act is to protect the consumers from unfair trade practices. As we are aware that most of the businesses before establishing the business, do some research of the market condition due to which they reach in a well dominating position because they are aware of even those things which generally consumers are not aware of, so they use that information for the exploitation. To avoid this, Consumer protection act is a benchmark in the legislation for consumers as this act provides speedy justice as compared to other existing laws. One of the most important responsibilities of the government is the welfare of the people, that where this act was introduced as it helps the consumers to get fast and inexpensive justice. (Kashyap, 2015)