Competition & Consumer Law

 
Regulatory compliance matters can require a lot of resources. To manage risk, it is essential to handle these matters in a way that lets organisations maintain a 'business as usual' approach.

Our competition and consumer law team is determined to help clients stay ahead of the pack by managing regulatory obligations and issues in a practical way.

  • ACCC and regulator dealings, including:
    • acting in ACCC investigations and advising on notifications, prosecutions and immunity arrangements;
    • advising on merger clearance, price fixing and collusion matters;
    • acting in cartel or anti-trust investigations;
    • advising on franchising agreements and disclosures regarding the Franchising Code of Conduct; and
    • providing general Australian Consumer Law advice.
  • Consumer protection, including advising on marketing and distribution practices, unfair practices, product labelling, country and region of origin, and other consumer protection issues under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA).
  • Compliance, including developing and implementing formal compliance programs.

To help our clients proactively avoid these issues, we design and deliver compliance training programs, hold informative seminars and provide updates on regulatory issues that have the potential to affect our clients’ businesses and profitability.

Our competition and consumer law practice encompasses misleading and deceptive conduct.

Experience

  • Advising a well-known Japanese company and its Australian subsidiary in relation to competition law matters arising out of a $35 million subcontracting and outsourcing arrangement that was entered into with a competitor. We also acted for and successfully defended the same client in relation to the subsequent ACCC investigation.
  • Preparing an Australian competition and consumer law compliance manual, and assisting in the delivery of a series of seminars relating to competition and consumer law compliance, for a major professional sporting body, Australian Football League (AFL). AFL’s business includes a substantial online and new media division. We proactively identified the need for AFL to address various compliance issues, and subsequently developed a practical and effective compliance program that suited the client’s unique business and legal requirements.
  • Advising numerous corporate clients in relation to cartel provisions in respect of various supply, distribution and joint venture arrangements, and advising on exclusive dealing, including ‘third line forcing’ arrangements.
  • Acting for a director of a company under investigation for bid rigging in relation to the coal industry.
  • Appearing for a senior manager of Mitsubishi Electric Australia in connection with an ACCC investigation of resale price maintenance.
  • Defending prosecutions:
    • acting in defence of an ACCC prosecution for misleading and deceptive conduct by a telecommunication service provider.
    • defending an abalone industry operator in Federal Court proceedings by the ACCC for cartel behaviour.
    • defending Ampol Petroleum for price fixing.

Key contact

Ben Hamilton

Partner & Technology and Digital Economy Co-Lead

Head of Technology and digital economy

Ben specialises in technology law, intellectual property and commercial contracts, trade marks and commercialisation.

Related thinking

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