Australian Consumer Law Essay

a. Princing

When you present prices to your consumers, you should state the total price. This applies to advertising across all mediums. If you promote a price that is only part of the total price of goods or services, you must also include the total price (as a single figure) at least as prominently as the part price. It is also illegal to represent to consumers that the price of a component or components is the total price.

The single price must include any tax, duty, fee, levy or other additional charges (e.g. GST or airport tax).

Legislation: Australian Consumer Law section 48

b. Advertising

Honest advertising practices are not just good for business – they are required by law. The Australian Consumer Law contains a number of rules that businesses must follow when

Standards Australia has a Standard titled: Customer satisfaction—Guidelines for complaints handling in an organization (AS ISO 10002:2006) which sets out the essential elements of effective complaints handling with a guide to their implementation.

The key points in this particular standard are that:

there should be a strong commitment from the top down to handling complaints, i.e. a ‘your problem is our problem’ philosophy throughout the whole company the complaints handling process should be visible access to the process should be easy and there should be systematic recording of complaints so that they can be classified and analysed for the identification and rectification of systemic and recurring problems.

d. Product Safety

Under the ACL, Commonwealth, state and territory ministers can regulate consumer goods and product-related services by issuing safety warning notices, banning products on a temporary or permanent basis, imposing mandatory safety standards or issuing a compulsory recall notice to