Focus: Updated guidance for businesses on carbon price claims released by ACCC
Services: Commercial

With less than a month until the introduction of the carbon price, the ACCC has released an updated guide to assist businesses in understanding their rights and obligations when making claims about the impact of the carbon price.

This updated guide can (at the time of writing) be found here.

We wrote about this issue in December last year. That article can be found here.

Nothing has actually changed since then – the focus of the guide is still to assist businesses to make claims that aren't misleading, deceptive or false under the Australian Consumer Law.

The new guide has been updated in response to industry consultation and feedback, and provides more practical guidance on specific issues.

The new guide emphasises these key points:

  • claims your business makes about the impact of the carbon price must be truthful and have a reasonable basis
  • care should be taken when relying on third party information to support any claim about the impact of the carbon price
  • your business must determine its carbon costs and prices independently from its competitors
  • your business should avoid discussions and agreements with competitors about the price impact of the carbon price
  • if your business makes a claim about the carbon price, it must not overstate or misrepresent the impact of the carbon price
  • your business may also be responsible for claims made by its employees in relation to the impact of the carbon price.

The ACCC has been directed by the Australian government to undertake a compliance and enforcement role in relation to claims made about the impact of the carbon price. The new guide illustrates that the ACCC is clearly heavily focussed on this role. This suggests that the ACCC will be vigilant as to the claims businesses make in relation to the impact of the carbon price.

Given the guidance it has provided, and the emphasis it has placed on this issue, the ACCC is unlikely to show lenience to those that try to use the impact of the carbon price to take advantage of consumers.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.