ACCC compliance and enforcement priorities
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent statutory government authority and Australia’s peak consumer protection and competition agency. Every year, the ACCC reviews and announces its compliance and enforcement priorities for the year ahead.
This year, the ACCC’s update address had two main parts. The first part is the ACCC’s updated compliance and enforcement priorities which were determined in line with its enduring priorities, and the second is the ACCC’s approach to facilitating the new merger control regime.
Principles, approaches and enduring priorities
The ACCC adopts the principles of accountability, transparency, confidentiality, timeliness, proportionality and fairness in determining its enforcement and compliance priorities.
With these principles in mind, in enforcing and ensuring compliance with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA), the ACCC has determined that there are some forms of conduct that are inherently detrimental to consumer welfare and general competition in the Australian market, such that they remain constant areas for monitoring. These concerns form the basis of the following long-term priorities for the ACCC:
- Cartel conduct, which is where businesses act together rather than competing with one another (e.g. price fixing, market sharing, bid rigging).
- Anti-competitive agreements and practices, and the misuse of market power.
- Product safety for consumer welfare.
- Conduct that impacts consumers experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage.
- Conduct that specifically impacts the welfare of First Nations Australians.
- Conduct that impacts small businesses and the agricultural sector.
- Scams and supporting the national anti-scam centre.
2025-26 priorities
In terms of the ACCC’s specific priorities, the last three years have seen a shift to conduct that has an impact on the cost-of-living concerns facing consumers and small businesses.
The ACCC’s specific compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025 to 2026 are:
- Competition issues in the supermarket and retail sector, focussing on firms with market power and conduct that impacts small business.
- Consumer and fair-trading concerns in the supermarket and retail sectors, with a focus on misleading pricing practices.
- Promoting competition in essential services with a focus on telecommunications, electricity, and gas.
- Misleading pricing and claims in relation to essential services, with a particular focus on energy and telecommunications.
- Competition and consumer issues in the aviation sector.
- Competition, product safety, consumer and fair-trading issues in the digital economy, with a focus on misleading or deceptive advertising within influencer marketing, online reviews, in-app purchases and unsafe consumer products.
- Misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs.
- Consumer, fair trading and competition concerns in relation to environmental claims and sustainability, with a focus on greenwashing.
- Unfair contract terms in consumer and small business contracts, with a focus on harmful cancellation terms, including those associated with automatic renewals, early termination fee clauses and non-cancellation clauses.
- Improving industry compliance with consumer guarantees, with a focus on consumer electronics.
- Improving compliance by NDIS providers with their obligations under Australian Consumer Law.
- Consumer product safety issues for young children, with a focus on compliance with button battery standards and raising awareness about new infant sleep and toppling furniture standards.
These priorities are broadly in keeping with the priorities for the 2024-25 year, with the only brand-new area of focus being priority number 7, “Misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs”.
In keeping with the ongoing prioritisation of compliance and enforcement action that seeks to address cost of living concerns for consumers and small businesses, the ACCC has:
- stepped up enforcement and compliance work in consumer and small business protection including seeking fines and penalties;
- commenced high profile Federal Court proceedings against companies that are abusing their market positions in consumer sensitive sectors, such as Coles and Woolworths; and
- increased focus on non-litigation interventions such as introducing prohibitions on unfair trading practices and codes for influencer marketing.
New merger regime
The ACCC is also prioritising the implementation of the new merger control regime. The new regime starts on 1 January 2026, with voluntary notification from 1 July 2025. It will require acquisitions of shares or assets over certain thresholds to be suspended pending approval by the ACCC. The purpose of the new merger regime is to allow the ACCC to identify and prevent mergers that are anti-competitive.
The new merger regime was outlined in previous articles: here and here
The ACCC has indicated it will release guidelines and consult with businesses to manage the transition.
What do ACCC’s 2025-26 enforcement priorities mean for you?
Page Seager can assist with queries regarding ACCC’s enforcement priorities and advise on any associated legal obligations.
