Consumer law breaches

What is a civil penalty provision?
A civil penalty is a pecuniary (or monetary) penalty imposed by courts exercising a civil rather than criminal jurisdiction.
State and Commonwealth government bodies can apply to the courts to have a pecuniary penalty imposed against an entity for breaching a civil penalty provision in some circumstances..
What is a pecuniary penalty?
An order made by a Court requiring a person to pay a monetary penalty for a statutory breach.
Pecuniary penalty orders can be made where a person has contravened a: Civil penalty provision under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (CA 2001) (section 131.
1. G, CA 2001)
What is the consumer protection from unfair trading act?
The CPRs contain a general prohibition of unfair commercial practices and, in particular, contain prohibitions of misleading and aggressive commercial practices.
They also prohibit 31 specific commercial practices that are listed in chapter 6 on banned practices..
We use a range of tools to encourage compliance with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and the Australian Consumer Law.
This includes enforcement action, consumer and business education, industry engagement, research and advocacy.

Breaches of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and the Australian Consumer Law attract fines and pecuniary penalties. Some breaches are civil and can How fines and penalties are Anti-competitive and restrictive Consumer law

Introduction

UK consumers have a strong and well-accepted set of statutory rights, but there is evidence these rights could be enforced more effectively to safe...

Why are we legislating?

Our research suggests that consumers lose out on £54.2 billion a year from unresolved disputes with traders[footnote 1]. To address this, we want t...

Reinforcing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

In most instances, disputes between consumers and businesses can be resolved without the need for any formal action. Seven in ten UK consumers reso...

How does the Bill protect UK consumers?

The Bill will strengthen enforcement by boosting the toolkit of corrective measures available against traders who do not comply with their legal ob...

Strengthening enforcement of consumer rights by the CMA

Between 2019 to 2020 and 2021 to 2022 CMA enforcement action on consumer law has delivered direct benefits to consumers worth £146.5 million per ye...

Enhancing the powers of the civil courts

The Bill will also provide the civil courts with new powers to impose civil monetary penalties, to boost the regime’s deterrence effect, which the...

Table 1. New penalties imposable by the CMA and civil courts under the Bill

Breach Penalty Imposable on Imposable by Engaging in commercial practices breaching consumer protection laws Up to £300,000 or 10% of annual global...

What do these reforms mean for businesses in the UK?

Businesses that comply with consumer law will not need to take any action in response to the consumer enforcement reforms but can expect to benefit...

Data breach in 2023

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) data breach occurred in March 2023 at the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.