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In early 2023, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) conducted an internet sweep of influencers who were promoting and advertising products on social media. In December 2023, the ACCC released their findings, determining and identifying deceptive marketing practices used across the digital economy.
In 2016 the Australian government introduced a new law that will come into effect on 9 November 2023 to protect small business from unfair terms in business-to-business standard form contracts. Are you are compliant?
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has ordered Booktopia Pty Ltd (‘Booktopia’) to pay $6 million dollars in penalties for breaches of the Australian Consumer Law.
Specifically, Booktopia was found to have made false and misleading representations regarding consumer rights and guarantees in the Terms of Business provided on their website, and by their customer relations and service staff working within their service centres.
Since 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has introduced amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 which enable consumer data information to be shared, in order to facilitate the process known as open banking.
At present, Consumer Data Right legislation solely relates to information held by banks and energy companies. It is anticipated that there will be a further and more significant roll out of legislation impacting the wider financial sector, as well as other sectors within the economy, in the next several years.
Holman Webb Lawyers is currently assisting broker groups, aggregators and software providers in relation to banking Consumer Data Right requests, and is similarly advising accredited data recipients with respect to their entrance into the financial services area, to enable applications for consumer credit.
The process surrounding the release of Consumer Data Right information is developing rapidly, as new technology emerges. There are privacy concerns relating to the management of this information, with detailed legislation and systems having been introduced to enable this information management to occur.
This article provides a brief analysis of the legislative process. Readers should note that there will undoubtedly be further change, as the Consumer Data Right process gains traction.
The Federal Court has recently delivered several decisions which must give corporations engaged in retail and financial services some pause for thought - especially in relation to their preparation of standard contract terms and conditions.
This article discusses two recent matters:
The first decision analyses the far-reaching powers within the Australian Consumer Law to prohibit and strike down unfair contracts. The second decision relates to the banning of unconscionable conduct in respect of franchise operations.
HealthEngine, an online booking engine and review platform for medical practises has been hit with a $2.9M fine for sharing the non-clinical personal information of 135,000 patients.