The ACCC is highly conscious of the impact COVID-19 is having on Australian consumers and businesses, and has adjusted the focus of its regulatory activities accordingly.
Most businesses are facing severe disruption, particularly small businesses, and the future is uncertain for many. The ACCC will factor these circumstances into its consideration of competition matters in the short term to assist businesses to remain viable in the long term.
Maintaining competition in the long term will be critical to benefit both consumers and the economy. A competitive economy will be vital to Australia’s future, so as much as is possible, the ACCC wants to ensure any changes to the competitive landscape now are temporary and that the ACCC is ready to play its role in supporting competition as the economy recovers.
While our 2020 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities remain in place, we will re-focus our efforts to those priorities of most relevance to competition and consumer issues arising from the impact of COVID-19.
This includes enhancing the ACCC’s efforts to address any behaviour by businesses which seek to exploit the crisis either to unduly enhance their commercial position or harm consumers.
Advice for businesses and consumers relating to consumer guarantees is available at accc.gov.au. The ACCC will update its website with advice as new issues emerge and in response to consumer enquiries via our website, Infocentre, and social media channels.
The ACCC has established an internal COVID-19 Taskforce which is already communicating directly with businesses to educate them about their obligations in relation to cancellations, refunds and suspension of services as a result of COVID-19.
We will also continue to raise awareness of COVID-19 scams, particularly as scammers adapt old methods to prey on new fears at a time when large parts of the community are already feeling vulnerable.
‘Price gouging’ for essential products is a significant public concern at this time and the ACCC will prioritise its activities in relation to this conduct. While price gouging is generally not illegal, if a business makes misleading claims about the reason for price increases, it will be breaching the Australian Consumer Law. It is also possible that extreme price gouging for essential products may amount to unconscionable conduct.
The ACCC will continue to focus on affordability issues in sectors such as energy, communications and petrol. The ACCC will draw attention to those sectors where it considers there to be excessive pricing, and where necessary will identify businesses engaging in conduct of this kind in these and other sectors. The ACCC recognises that affordability of essential services is particularly critical at a time of growing unemployment.
