When you sell a product or service, you must comply with fair trading regulations. When you buy a product or service, you have consumer rights and guarantees. Fair trading laws ensure that trading is fair for your business and your customers.
Australian federal and state laws protect you, your business and your customers from unfair trading practices. These laws, together with industry codes of practice, help your business operate fairly and competitively, and make sure your customers are properly informed and protected.
It’s against the law for businesses to limit or prevent competition. It’s important that businesses understand their rights and obligations at all times.
The Competition and Consumer Act 2010
The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the Act) is a national law that regulates fair trading in Australia and governs how all businesses in Australia must deal with their customers, competitors and suppliers. The Act promotes fair trading between competitors while also ensuring that consumers are treated fairly. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) administers and enforces the Act along with state and territory regulators.
The Act broadly covers:
- unfair market practices
- industry codes
- mergers and acquisitions of companies
- product safety
- collective bargaining
- product labelling
- price monitoring
- industry regulation – airports, electricity, gas, telecommunications
ACCC Small business & the Competition and Consumer Act guide
The ACCC Small business & the Competition and Consumer Act guide is designed to help small businesses understand their key rights and responsibilities under the Act. It is important that you understand and meet your obligations under the Act so that you do not break the law.
Fair trading laws in your state or territory
While the Act is a national law, each state and territory also provides additional consumer protections within their own fair trading legislation.
If you sell products or services, make sure you’re aware of your local state or territory legislation. Each state and territory has fair trading departments within their governments that can help you.