AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Greg Williams, Alexandra Rose, Caitlin Sheehy and Sarah Aljassim, Clayton Utz
teries) Safety Standard, which came into effect on 22 June 2022. The following are recent examples of civil penal - ties being imposed in relation to breaches of the Australian Consumer Law that did not relate to product safety. • In May 2021, a telecommunications provider was ordered to pay AUD50 million in respect of unconscionable conduct in its dealing with more than 100 Indigenous consumers across Australia. • In June 2021, an energy retailer was ordered to pay AUD1.2 million in penalties and to pay consumer redress in respect of false or mis - leading representations that it made in selling electricity plans to consumers. • In April 2022, a company operating an online hotel booking site was ordered to pay AUD44.7 million in respect of misleading rep - resentations in its advertisements about hotel room rates. • In August 2022, a multinational technology company was ordered to pay AUD60 mil - lion in respect of misleading representations made to consumers about the collection and use of their personal location data on Android phones. • In December 2022, a global ride-sharing company was ordered to pay AUD21 mil - lion in respect of misleading representations made about ride cancellation messages and fees associated with a specific ride option available to consumers. • In March 2023, an Australian online booksell - er was ordered to pay AUD6 million in respect of misleading statements made on its website in relation to consumer guarantee rights. • In July 2023, a former Australian vocational training college and its marketing arm were ordered to pay a record penalty of AUD438
million for acting unconscionably and mis - leading students into thinking vocational courses they were enrolling in were free. • In August 2023, an Australian technology company was ordered to pay AUD10 million in respect of false and misleading represen - tations made on its website about discount prices for add-on computer monitors. • In December 2023, a US-based wearable technology company was ordered to pay AUD11 million after it admitted to making false, misleading or deceptive representations to 58 consumers about their consumer guar - antee rights to a refund or a replacement after they claimed their device was faulty. • In December 2023, an Australian car com - pany was ordered to pay AUD6 million in respect of false or misleading representations made to customers that certain dealerships had closed and would no longer service vehicles. • In February 2024, an Australian car company was ordered to pay AUD11.5 million in penal - ties for false or misleading representations it made to nine consumers about their consum - er guarantee rights. • In March 2024, an Australian online floral company was ordered to pay AUD1 million after it admitted to making false and mislead - ing representations on its website ‒ namely, by publishing misleading star ratings for its products, advertising products at a discount when they had not generally sold products at the “strikethrough price” , and adding sur - charges that were inadequately disclosed. • In May 2024, Australia’s national carrier Qan - tas reached an agreement with the ACCC to pay an AUD100 million penalty (and, in addi - tion, approximately AUD20 million in compen - sation) for false and misleading conduct in selling tickets on flights that had in fact been cancelled. This agreed penalty was confirmed
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