Competition and Consumer Law: Applicability, Remedies and Penalties

Competition and
Consumer Law

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
Question 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Question 2...............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCE..............................................................................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION
Most elements of business dealings, including those with (and between) suppliers, wholesalers,
retailers, competitors, and customers, are covered by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission which is ACCC, is in charge of
enforcing the CC Act. Anticompetitive activity is addressed by the CC Act's competition laws.
Contracts, arrangements, and understandings that would considerably diminish competition or
contain exclusionary clauses or a cartel provision, as well as mergers and acquisitions that would
substantially lessen competition, are all prohibited by the Act(Competition and Consumer
Commission, 2021). Exclusive trading, especially third-line forcing, are examples of market
power abuse. The Australian Consumer Law is also included in the CC Act. It includes a number
of consumer protection provisions, such as the prohibition of misleading and deceptive conduct,
invalidation of the unfair terms in standard form consumer contracts, the provision of statutory
consumer guarantees for goods and services, the establishment of Australia's product safety
regime, and the regulation of unsolicited sales practices. The following report is going to address

the two case studies in accordance with the applicability of the anti competition regimes along
with the available remedies and breach entitled in the Act.
MAIN BODY
Question 1.
Advise Ann as to whether she would risk breaching the Competition and Consumer Act
2010, if she were to participate in Gabby’s arrangement.
Even if the conduct does not meet the stricter definitions of other anti-competitive conduct such
as cartels, Section 45 of the Competition and Consumer Act prevents contractual agreements,
arrangements, interpretations, or concerted practices which have the intent, effect, or likely effect
of significantly reducing competition in a market. The courts weigh a variety of considerations
before making a ruling. Where the very first is of that is there lays the agreement or contracted
parties caught by the Act? Agreements, contracts, arrangements, and understandings all have
identical definitions under the Act. Ultimately, they entail the creation of a plan of action
between two or more persons that may or may not be legally enforceable, but that they intend to
follow (King, 2021).
In the case of TPC v Nicholas Enterprises Pty Ltd, 1979, the court stated that "it appears to me
that each of two or more individuals incurs at least a moral obligation to act in a given way when
each of them knowingly arouses in the others an expectation that he will act in a certain way."
An agreement, as defined, is something in which the parties agree to mutual rights and
obligations. It is not essential to write anything down in order to reach an agreement or form an
arrangement. In truth, such agreements are frequently not written down. Nothing needs to be
said; a simple 'nod and wink' suffices. Furthermore, the court concluded in Top Performance
Motors Ltd v Ira Berk Pty Ltd, 1975, that an agreement requires the meeting of two or more
minds. There appears to be an understanding when the parties' views are so aligned that a
planned transaction between them proceeds on the basis of the maintenance of a specific
condition of things or the adoption of a specific course of behavior. Further for the given case
study it can be said that the acts of Ann reasonably suffice her to make liable for anti competitive
agreements under the said Act of 2010 (Milnes, 2019).