Competition and Consumer Act
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| Competition law |
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| Anti-competitive practices |
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The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia. Prior to 1 January 2011, it was known as the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA). The Act is the legislative vehicle for competition law in Australia, and seeks to promote competition, fair trading as well as providing protection for consumers. It is administered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and also gives some rights for private action. Schedule 2 of the CCA sets out the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The Australian Federal Court has the jurisdiction to determine private and public complaints made in regard to contraventions of the Act.
The Competition and Consumer Act (CCA) is an act of the Parliament of Australia and so its application is limited by section 51 of the Australian Constitution, which sets out the division of powers between the federal and state parliaments. As a result, most of the CCA is drafted to apply only to corporations, thus relying on Section 51(xx). Some parts of the CCA have a broader operation, relying for instance on the telecommunications power (Section 51(v)) or the territories power.
The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) is applied as state law through the Fair Trading Acts in each Australian State and Territory, to extend the application of the ACL to individuals. The Act exempts the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments from some provisions of the Act. The immunity from the Act does not generally derive to third parties who deal with the government: see Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Baxter Healthcare. The article: 'Consumer Protection Law in Australia' (LexisNexis 2011) by Ven. Alex Bruce ('Tenpa') was the first Australian text to critically analyze the most extensive changes to consumer protection law embodied within the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
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