Displaying items by tag: Rod Sims

Cuts in oil production by the OPEC cartel and other big producers, combined with a pick-up in global fuel demand, led to higher petrol prices in Australia’s five largest capital cities in the March 2021 quarter, according to the latest petrol monitoring report from the ACCC.

Major falls in wholesale electricity costs and new laws requiring retailers to pass on cuts are likely to result in lower electricity bills in 2021, despite residential consumption rising by 10% and household bills increasing by 7% in 2020, according to competition regulator the ACCC.

Millions of Australian consumers will pay more for their mobile phone plans after recent price increases by all three big telco companies, according to new analysis by the competition regulator, the ACCC.

Australian electronic goods retailer digiDirect – trading as Digital Imaging Express Pty Ltd – has paid $39,240 in penalties after the ACCC issued the company three infringement notices for allegedly misleading consumers about the details of advertised sales in breach of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

Independent petrol retail chains Speedway, Metro Petroleum, United, Vibe and FuelXpress had the cheapest petrol in Australia’s eight capital cities in 2020, according to a new report by Australia’s competition watchdog.

Telcos Dodo and iPrimus have been ordered to pay $1.5 million and $1 million respectively in penalties for making misleading claims about their NBN broadband speeds.

The proposed acquisition of Slack Technologies by Salesforce will not be opposed by the competition regulator the ACCC.

The competition watchdog, the ACCC, has sought leave to appear at the hearing of Epic Games appeal to the Full Federal Court against an earlier Court decision to stay Epic’s proceedings against Apple.

ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court has been appointed to the position of Deputy Chair at Australia’s national corporate, markets, financial services and consumer credit regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC),

Australia’s competition regulator, the ACCC, has granted interim authorisation for Country Press Australia (CPA) members to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google over payments to publishers for their news content that appears on the platforms.  

The Federal Court has found that Google LLC and Google Australia Pty Ltd misled consumers about personal location data collected through Android mobile devices between January 2017 and December 2018.

The current period of structural upheaval in Australia’s energy sector provides an opportunity for more affordable energy- and savings for consumers - and must not be wasted, according to Australia’s competition watchdog chief Rod Sims.

Australia’s competition watchdog the ACCC has called for stronger measures to be taken to keep high gas prices in check, saying there is a need to ensure businesses and households are not paying more for gas than would be expected in a well-functioning market.

News Corporation has announced it has reached a multi-year agreement with Facebook, to provide news to users of the social media site Down Under.

The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Visa AP (Australia) Pty Ltd and Visa Worldwide Pte Limited (together, Visa) "in relation to concerns that Visa may have limited competition in relation to debit card acceptance through its dealings with large merchants."

ACCC chair Rod Sims has hailed the introduction of Australian Competition Law and the Competition and Consumer Act 10 years ago as a game changer that allowed for the ACCC and state and territory regulators to collaborate much more easily, and heralded a new era in Australian consumer protection by introducing a single national consumer law and civil penalties.

Sales practices in Australia’s domestic travel sector, competition in aviation and the conduct of some caravan manufacturers - along with sales issues with digital platforms, energy and telecommunications and other business and industry sectors - have been laid out by Australia’s competition and consumer watchdog, the ACCC, in its compliance and enforcement priorities for 2021.

Gas prices fell significantly during the past year, driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the competition and consumer watchdog, the ACCC, has flagged that lower prices may not last, with the risk of a supply shortfall remaining.

Search behemoth Google, which is trying to muscle the Australian Government into accepting a news media code devised by itself, has contradicted its own threat to pull out of the market by slyly approaching smaller news organisations and trying to cut deals on its (Google's) terms.

Origin Energy has paid a penalty of $126,000 after the competition regulator, the ACCC, issued it with an infringement notice for an alleged false or misleading representation in a price increase letter sent to residential electricity customers in Victoria.