Retail Thera-IP
Your Weekly Dose of Legal Advertising and Marketing Updates in Australia

Excessive Surcharge Provisions enforced by the ACCC

Earlier this week, the ACCC commenced its first proceedings under new provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) that ban excessive payment surcharges.  This clearly signals that the ACCC is actively monitoring and enforcing these restrictions, and comes as a timely reminder for businesses to review their surcharges for accepting payment by credit, […]

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Food and Grocery Code of Conduct Review

The Food and Grocery Code is the first prescribed voluntary code under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) regulating the conduct of supermarket retailers and wholesalers who have agreed to be bound by the code. A draft report released on 2 July details 14 draft recommendations made by the review. The key draft recommendations […]

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Changes to Therapeutic Goods Advertising in Australia

From 1 January 2019, businesses marketing and advertising therapeutic goods (medicines and medical devices) must comply with new requirements under the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code 2018 (2018 Code). In addition to general requirements under the Australian Consumer Law with respect to false, misleading and deceptive claims, the 2018 Code specifically regulates the types and content […]

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Country of origin food labelling has commenced!

From 1 July 2018, it became mandatory for businesses to ensure that food offered for retail sale in Australia is labelled in accordance with the Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard (the Standard). The Standard is aimed at providing consumers with greater certainty for where food is made, produced and grown when making purchasing […]

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Sexual Appeal Advertising: Code of Ethics Amendments

Effective from 1 March 2018, the Advertising Standards Bureau now accepts complaints under the amended section 2.2 of the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ Code of Ethics (the Code), which prevents advertising that uses sex appeal from being exploitative or degrading. The amended section 2.2 provides that advertising or marketing communications shall not employ sexual appeal: […]

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Targeted: Organic Claims

The ACCC has indicated that it is currently targeting businesses for making false or misleading ‘organic’ claims about their products. With a number of infringement notices issued as part of the investigations, it is a timely reminder for businesses to ensure that any product claims such as ‘organic’, ‘100% organic’ or ‘made using organic ingredients’ […]

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The Car Retail Market and Consumer Guarantees

Car manufacturers are facing mounting pressure to comply with their obligations under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), particularly in relation to directing customers to warranties in place of consumer guarantees. Often consumers are unaware that under the ACL they have automatic rights to refunds and repairs, regardless of what the warranty covers. The Australian Competition […]

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Gift cards – new requirements

Since 31 March this year, new requirements have been in place that are relevant for certain gift cards sold in NSW or to consumers who provide an address based in NSW (the requirements also catch gift cards sold online). Certain gift cards and vouchers are excluded from the requirements including those given for free, in […]

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