Deceptive advertising, environmental and sustainability claims, and supply chain disruptions are the key areas of compliance and enforcement for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for 2022/23.
Outlining the priorities at the annual Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA) event, ACCC Chair Rod Sims said the focus areas are reflective of the current and emerging issues consumers are facing.
When it comes to deceptive advertising, the ACCC will be on the lookout for "manipulative techniques" such as false scarcity reminders (low-stock warnings), false sales countdown timers, targeted advertising using a consumers’ own data to exploit their individual characteristics, pre-selected add-ons and design interfaces that discourage unsubscribing.
Additionally, other areas of concern include manipulation of online reviews and search results, and comparison websites and social media influencers that don’t disclose commercial relationships including paid promotions.
"Consumers are facing a growing number of manipulative techniques to exploit or pressure them, and other practices that seek to distort or disregard their consumer choice in the digital economy," Sims said.
"To realise the full benefit of online markets consumers and businesses must be confident to engage online," he said.
Meanwhile, the organisation will also closely scrutinise businesses making environmental and sustainability claims, including claims about consumer goods, manufacturing, the energy sector and carbon neutrality.
"Many consumers are increasingly considering the environmental impact of the products and services they buy.
"We are aware of growing concerns that some businesses are falsely promoting environmental or green credentials to capitalise on these consumer preferences.
"We are also seeing businesses incurring the costs of genuine environmentally friendly manufacturing processes face unfair competition from businesses making misleading environmental and sustainability claims without incurring the same costs," he said.
"The importance of effective and competitive supply chains has been more evident than ever during the pandemic," Sims said.
"Where we have evidence of businesses taking advantage of the situation to fix prices or share markets, we will take appropriate action," he said.