Small business sector, including agriculture, now enduring ACCC priority

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently unveiled its compliance and enforcement priorities for the 2024-25 period, marking a significant shift by including protection for small businesses, including agriculture, as a steadfast focus for the first time.

In alignment with its commitment to upholding competition and consumer laws and small business industry codes of conduct, the ACCC is dedicated to ensuring that these safeguards extend to small businesses and the agriculture sector.

Furthermore, the ACCC will prioritise addressing competition, fair trading, consumer protection, and pricing concerns within the supermarket sector, with a specific emphasis on food and groceries during the 2024-25 period.

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This renewed emphasis on the supermarket sector arises from notable price hikes observed in food and groceries, coupled with the expressed concerns of Australian consumers and farmers regarding supermarket pricing practices. In response to these concerns, the government issued a directive in January for the ACCC to conduct a comprehensive 12-month price inquiry into competition within the supermarket and grocery sector. This inquiry tasks the ACCC with conducting a detailed examination of supermarket pricing practices and investigating the relationship between wholesale prices, including farmgate prices received by farmers, and retail prices charged by supermarkets to consumers.

Additionally, addressing unfair contract terms in consumer and small business contracts remains a key enforcement priority for the ACCC. The introduction of penalties for unfair contract terms has prompted proactive adjustments by numerous businesses to their standard form agreements.

A concise summary of the ACCC’s priorities for the 2024-25 period is available on the ACCC website at 2024-25 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities.

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