IAA Newsletters

The government has passed legislation that will amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which includes the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The new amendments, which will come into effect from late 2023 (12 months after Royal Assent), include big changes, primarily with respect to penalties for anti-competitive conduct and breaches of the ACL.

The amended maximum penalties will be the greater of $50 million, if the court is able to calculate the value of the benefit, then 3 times that amount, or if the court is unable to calculate the value of the benefit, 30% of adjusted annual turnover during the period in which the breach occurred. These represent significant fines, so it is important to check your current contracts.

The ACL’s unfair contract terms regime will also expand ‘standard form’ contracts and ‘small business’ contracts, meaning you may now find that your business falls under the regime.

As the amendments don’t kick in for another 12 months following Royal Assent, this period is intended to allow businesses time to review their contracts. It will also only apply to new contracts (and renewals) entered into on or after the legislation comes into effect.

We recommend that affected members seek legal advice to ensure your contracts are free of unfair contract terms before the amendments come into effect, so you aren’t subject to these hefty fines.

Please note that the contents of this article do not constitute legal advice and are not intended to be a substitute for legal advice. You should seek legal or other professional advice in relation to any matters you or your organisation may have.

The policy team met with NBN Co to discuss their preliminary questions before the launch of their Low-Income Forum. The Forum aims to address the issues facing low-income and other vulnerable consumers with respect to the provision of NBN Co products and services. The Forum will likely kick off in 2023 Q1.

We emphasised that the focus should be on ensuring concrete changes to NBN Co products, features, processes and services so they work efficiently for both consumers and industry. In this way, there will not be any need to develop specific low-income products. RSPs should not need to get involved in determining whether a consumer is a low-income, or an otherwise vulnerable, consumer. We took the view that if services are easy and affordable for industry to get, operate and offer, consumers will also be able obtain affordable and reliable services.

In response to their question as to the scope of the Forum, we suggested that while the primary remit should be NBN Co products and services, this sort of forum could present a good space for industry and other stakeholders to address issues concerning low-income consumers and telecommunications services that could be fed back to government, which they could then use to develop funding, educational and/or awareness programs and services.

NBN Co is considering what sort of form the Forum will take, with the likely view that there will be specific working groups for different issues including the appropriate stakeholders. IAA will continue to be involved to represent our members on matters that affect RSPs. If you have any thoughts or concerns, please get in touch!

The Public Policy Advisory Panel plays a fundamental role in informing IAA’s advocacy work. The Panel began in 2022, with the first meeting being conducted in April. Since then, IAA’s policy team have established its public-policy principles, released various educational material, responded to over 15 consultations and made a genuine impact in policy affecting the telecommunications sector.

In our last meeting for 2022, we had a chance to review and consider with the Panel the strategy and focus of IAA’s policy work for the future; our stance on Australia’s privacy and security regimes that is likely to continue being points of focus in the next year; and other policy areas of concern for Panel members. We were also grateful to have APNIC speak to us about its policy development process and consider areas that may be useful for IAA to be involved where IAA’s members are concerned.

We are very grateful for each Panel members’ time and assistance over the past year and very much looking forward to continuing our advocacy efforts with their help in 2023!