AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Greg Williams, Alexandra Rose, Caitlin Sheehy and Sarah Aljassim, Clayton Utz
Criminal penalties Examples of criminal penalties and referral to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions are much rarer and relate to breach of the cartel provisions in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). By way of example, in 2017 Aus - tralia’s first criminal cartel case concluded with a fine of AUD25 million in a global vehicle shipping company cartel case. In 2022, the Federal Court of Australia sentenced four individuals to sus - pended prison terms in relation to price fixing of the Australian dollar/Vietnamese dong exchange rate and transaction fees charged to customers. This was the first time that individuals in Aus - tralia were sentenced for criminal cartel conduct. More recently, in 2024, the Federal Court of Australia convicted and sentenced two waste management companies (and the CEOs of the companies during the period of the offending) for criminal cartel offences relating to a price fix - ing arrangement for demolition waste services in Sydney. The companies were fined AUD30 million and AU3.5 million respectively, while the directors each received terms of imprison - ment to be served as intensive correction order (including community service), monetary fines and bans from managing corporations for a period of five years each. Infringement Notices In addition to the above-mentioned criminal and civil penalty regimes, the ACCC also has the power ‒ pursuant to Section 134A of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) – to issue infringement notices in respect of certain breaches of the Australian Consumer Law. The ACCC may issue an infringement notice if it has reasonable grounds to believe that a person has contravened one of the provisions of the Austral - ian Consumer Law specified in Section 134A.
by the Federal Court of Australia in October 2024. • In July 2024, an Australian supplier of loung - ewear was ordered to pay AUD101,280 in penalties for allegedly failing to include high fire danger warning labels on six different styles of its loungewear, as required by the Consumer Goods (Children’s Nightwear and Limited Daywear and Paper Patterns for Chil - dren’s Nightwear) Safety Standard 2017; • In July 2024, an Australian online auction business was ordered to pay AUD10 million in penalties for making false or misleading rep - resentations in the descriptions of hundreds of cars listed for sale on its website between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2022. • In July 2024, an Australian course and men - toring programme provider was ordered to pay AUD5 million in pecuniary penalties for making false or misleading representations to consumers in the promotion and sale of two education programmes and to pay students who had enrolled in one of the programmes redress totalling AUD14.7 million. The com - pany’s sole director was also ordered to pay AUD1 million in penalties, in addition to being disqualified from managing corporations for five years. • In August 2024, an Australian operator of car park facilities was ordered to pay AUD10.95 million in penalties for making false or mis - leading claims about its pre-book online park - ing services. • In September 2024, one of Australia’s largest energy retailers was ordered to pay AUD14 million in penalties for making false, mislead - ing or deceptive statements to hundreds of thousands of consumers about electricity prices, as well as for failing to provide man - datory information required by the Electricity Retail Code.
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