Australia: ACCC to seek stiffer penalties this year

Australia’s competition regulator has flagged it will seek larger penalties against big companies this year in order to effectively deter them from misconduct.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission plans to focus on unfair contracts for small businesses, and to target cartels and misconduct by large businesses in the health, construction and agriculture sectors, as part of its priorities for 2017.

“One issue that continually emerges is whether the penalties against large businesses are enough of a deterrent and more than just the cost of doing business,” chairman Rod Sims said at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) event in Sydney.

Mr Sims said companies that breach competition or consumer law don’t acknowledge the seriousness of the issues, often because current civil penalties are too low.

“In 2017 we will be making concerted efforts to ensure that penalties we seek make larger companies and individuals who work in them consider their business practices, and how their business practices meet their obligations under competition and consumer law,” Mr Sims said.

Mr Sims said he was heartened by comments from judges about relatively light fines in recent ACCC cases involving Reckitt Benckiser, and ANZ and Macquarie Banks.

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