Competition and Consumer Regulations 2010

The Regulations bind the same population as the Act: every person carrying on business in Australia, every supplier of goods or services to a consumer, every dealer or door-to-door salesperson, every party to a Part IIIA access dispute, every applicant for an authorisation or notification under Part VII, every operator in the international liner cargo shipping sector, every accredited person under the consumer data right, every energy retailer, AEMO and the banking sector under the CDR. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Energy Regulator administer most of the Regulations directly. The Tribunal sits as the merits review body for access decisions under Part 2A.

The Regulations prescribe the operational detail that anchors compliance. Regulation 77A fixes the consumer threshold for paragraph 3(1)(a) of the Australian Consumer Law: a person acquires goods or services as a consumer if the amount paid does not exceed $100,000 (this is the prescribed amount). Regulations 77 and 78 prescribe warning text and prominence rules for assertion-of-payment statements: the statement must include the words "This is not a bill. You are not required to pay any money." and that text must be the most prominent text in the document. Regulation 79 specifies the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the prescribed body for paragraph 43(3)(a). Regulation 80A excludes restaurants from the single price requirement for surcharges on food or beverage.

Unsolicited consumer agreement requirements sit at regulations 81 to 89: agreements that are not unsolicited consumer agreements (regulation 81), information about dealer identity (regulation 82), termination period information (regulation 83), the form and way of giving termination period information (regulation 84), front page information (regulation 85), front page formal requirements (regulation 86), accompanying notice requirements (regulation 87), application of Division 2 of Part 3-2 to emergency repair contracts (regulation 88) and to particular unsolicited consumer agreements (regulation 89).

Gift card requirements sit at regulations 89A to 89C and 92A: regulation 89A excludes from "gift card" status articles that can have value increased after supply other than by reversal or correction, and articles redeemable only for electricity, gas or telecommunications. Regulation 89B specifies fees and charges that are not post-supply fees and charges (booking fees substantially the same as for non-gift-card payment, currency exchange fees, replacement fees for lost, stolen or damaged cards, and payment surcharges within the meaning of section 55A of the Act). Regulation 89C applies the three-year redemption rule with carve-outs for short-period and significant-discount gift cards.

Regulation 90 prescribes formal requirements for warranties against defects. Regulation 91 governs the notice that must accompany goods sent for repair where data may be erased. Regulation 92 specifies the laws to which a supplier's report about consumer goods associated with death, serious injury or illness applies.

Collective bargaining contract regulations 71A to 71D prescribe class limits for motor vehicle fuel for retail sale, motor vehicles for retail sale, farm machinery for retail sale, and primary production. Regulation 75 covers waiver of fee for non-merger authorisation applications.

Subordinate-instrument powers run through every Part. The Commission may approve forms (regulation 4A). The Registrar of the Tribunal is appointed under regulation 4AA. The Tribunal's directions, summons, evidence and continuance powers sit at regulations 22 to 26 and 28C to 28Q. The Commission may charge fees for services and activities under regulation 28A. The Australian Energy Regulator may disclose information to prescribed persons and bodies under regulation 7. Federal Court orders about energy laws under regulation 6AA align Commonwealth orders with State energy laws.

Part 2BA modifies CDR provisions for the energy and banking sectors: regulation 28RA applies privacy safeguards in the energy sector; regulation 28RAA modifies authorisation to disclose CDR data before being required to do so for initial and larger retailers; regulation 28RB modifies certain provisions for parts of the banking sector.

Part 3 (regulations 29 to 47) creates a separate regime for international liner cargo shipping: the Office of the Registrar (regulation 30), fees (regulation 31), registers of conference agreements, designated shipper bodies, non-conference ocean carriers with substantial market power, unfair pricing practices, ocean carrier agents, loyalty agreements (regulations 32 to 37), provisional and final registration of conference agreements (regulations 38, 38A and 40), notice and abstract requirements (regulations 39 and 41), affecting events (regulation 42), undertakings (regulation 43), agent registration (regulation 44), change-of-agent notices (regulation 45), application manner (regulation 46) and verification (regulation 47).

The Regulations themselves are not the principal source of penalty. The Act sets the civil pecuniary penalties for ACL contraventions (Schedule 2 sections including section 224), competition prohibitions (Part IV) and access regime breaches (Part IIIA). The Regulations operationalise the gateway: they fix the consumer threshold, the warning text requirements, the unsolicited consumer agreement information regime and the gift card formal requirements that, when breached, expose suppliers to ACL civil penalty. Regulation 76 (search and seizure identity card for inspectors) and regulation 92B (Australian Consumer Law identity card for inspectors) drive the inspector identity card regime that supports enforcement. Regulation 92AA prescribes the process for substantially transforming medicines in Australia, which sits behind country-of-origin contraventions.

Time computation under regulation 3 follows the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and standard rules. Service is governed by regulations 11 (on the Commission) and 12 (on persons other than the Commission). Receipt of applications is recorded under regulation 13 and evidenced under regulation 14. Tribunal proceedings are titled and filed under regulations 17 and 18, with file numbers under regulation 19. Applications for review under regulations 20 and 20A. Address for service under regulation 21. Tribunal directions on certain matters under regulation 22. Evidence of persons not attending under regulation 22A. Confidentiality under regulation 24. Summons under regulation 25. Inspection of, and copies of documents furnished, under regulation 27. Tribunal review of access decisions under regulations 28C to 28Q sits at the heart of the merits review pathway under Part 2A.

Notice of resale price maintenance comes into force after the period prescribed by regulation 9.

The Regulations sit beneath the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, including its Schedule 1 (Competition Code) and Schedule 2 (Australian Consumer Law). They cross-reference the Corporations Act 2001 (proprietary company definitions). They incorporate the Consumer Data Right (Energy Sector) Designation 2020. They specify identity card requirements for inspectors that interact with the Crimes Act 1914 and Privacy Act 1988 frameworks. The Australian Energy Regulator's information disclosure power in regulation 7 aligns with State energy laws prescribed under regulation 7A. Regulation 6J refers to access codes prepared by industry bodies under section 44ZZAA of the Act. Regulation 7B covers merits review by the Tribunal under subsection 44ZZR(2) of the Act.

The Australian Consumer Law operates as Schedule 2 of the Act with its substantive prohibitions (misleading or deceptive conduct in section 18, unconscionable conduct in sections 20 to 22, unfair contract terms in Part 2-3, unsolicited consumer agreements in Division 2 of Part 3-2, gift cards in Division 3A of Part 3-2, consumer guarantees in Part 3-2 Division 1, unsafe goods in Part 3-3, supplier and manufacturer indemnity in Part 5-4) all backed by the procedural and definitional detail in Part 6 of the Regulations.

The consumer threshold of $100,000 in regulation 77A drives whether a transaction falls inside or outside the consumer guarantees regime. Suppliers of goods or services that exceed $100,000 lose default consumer guarantee protections unless the goods are of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption (paragraph 3(1)(b) of the Australian Consumer Law). Misclassifying a transaction is a frequent failure mode.

The unsolicited consumer agreement information requirements in regulations 81 to 89 are formal and prescriptive: front page text, the inclusion of dealer identity, the termination period and the way that information is given are all statutory triggers. A trial body of Federal Court authority (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Cornerstone Investment Aust Pty Ltd [2018] FCA 1408) records contraventions of multiple ACL sections including 74, 75, 76 and 78 in the unsolicited consumer agreement context, demonstrating the granularity of the prescriptive regime that flows from these regulations.

Gift card carve-outs in regulation 89A turn on what the article is redeemable for and whether its value can be increased after supply. A telecommunications-only or utility-only article is excluded entirely from the regime even if it functions like a gift card.

The warning text in regulations 77 and 78 must be the most prominent text in the document. Less prominent text breaches the prescription even if substantively present.

A door-to-door installer of solar panels giving a contract that is an unsolicited consumer agreement must comply with regulations 82 to 87: the contract must contain dealer identity information (regulation 82), termination period information (regulation 83), front page text (regulations 85 and 86) and a notice (regulation 87). Failure exposes the supplier to ACL section 76 contraventions, with civil penalty under section 224 of the Australian Consumer Law as set out in Schedule 2 of the Act.

A retail electronics supplier issuing gift cards must observe the three-year minimum redemption period in section 99B of the Australian Consumer Law unless the gift card falls within an exception in regulation 89C (short-period or significant-discount gift cards). A booking fee charged on redemption is permitted under regulation 89B(a) provided it is the same or substantially the same as for any other payment method.

A vocational education provider whose pricing is over $100,000 may fall outside the consumer threshold in regulation 77A, but if the services are of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal use, paragraph 3(1)(b) of the Australian Consumer Law applies regardless. The Federal Court analysis in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Unique International College [2017] FCA 727 and the appellate review in Unique International College Pty Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2018] FCAFC 155 illustrates the operation of the unsolicited consumer agreement and unconscionable conduct regimes for vocational education service supply.

A caravan manufacturer offering a written warranty falls within section 59 of the Australian Consumer Law and the warranty against defects formal requirements in regulation 90; the Federal Court analysed this matrix in detail in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Jayco Corporation Pty Ltd [2020] FCA 1672.

Part 2A operationalises Tribunal review of access determinations. Definitions sit in regulation 28B. Applications are filed under regulation 28C. Notice of participation under regulation 28D. Participants in the review under regulation 28E. The Tribunal's constitution under regulation 28F, with the presiding member under regulation 28G, reconstitution under regulation 28H, determination of question under regulation 28I, disclosure of interests under regulation 28J, hearing in private under regulation 28K, representation under regulation 28L, procedure under regulation 28M, summons under regulation 28N, and evidence by a single member under regulation 28P. The procedural regime maps the Tribunal review of access decisions under section 44ZZR of the Act, providing the working machinery for affected parties to challenge access determinations.