Government unveils plans for ‘super complaints’ body
Small business and consumer advocacy groups will have a direct channel to bring “significant or systemic market issues” to the ACCC’s attention.
The government has unveiled plans to create a designated body within the ACCC to give small business and consumer representatives a direct pathway to lodge complaints, set out in draft legislation released Friday.
Plans for the body were floated in May after advocacy groups raised concerns about the lack of a formal mechanism to bring issues to the ACCC’s attention.
Assistant Competition Minister Andrew Leigh said the body, based on a “super complaints” framework used in the UK, would enable representatives to bring evidence of a “significant or systemic market issue” to the ACCC for a response within 90 days.
“This is good for consumers and it’s good for small business. Whether it’s airlines, telecommunications, or supermarkets, we’ve seen too many examples of consumers and small businesses not getting a fair deal,” he said.
“This designated complaints function will enable consumer and small business advocates to raise systemic issues and have them prioritised by the competition and consumer watchdog.”
While anyone can submit a complaint in a report to the ACCC, the watchdog is under no obligation to respond given the volume of reports it receives each year.
The proposed provisions would require the ACCC to respond to complaints of “significant or systemic” market issues publicly and within 90 days.
The draft legislation’s explanatory materials described a significant market issue as one that was “important or serious in their impact on consumers or small businesses or require urgent attention to avoid harm”, such as conduct from a supplier that was likely to substantially and negatively impact a sizeable group of consumers or small businesses.
Additionally, a systemic market issue would capture issues that “may cause significant disruption or cost to Australian consumers or small businesses”.
Representative organisations that would like to make complaints to the body would need to satisfy certain criteria to become a “designated complainant”, the Treasury said.
This included demonstrating their experience and ability to represent the interests of consumers or small business (or both) concerning a range of market issues, and the likely integrity of the applicant in their role.
“The minister may cap both the number of designated complainants and the number of designated complaints that may be submitted in a given period. This will ensure that the ACCC has adequate resources to progress designated complaints alongside their identified enforcement priorities, while also encouraging designated complainants to consider the type and quality of proposed designated complaints ahead of lodgement,” it said.
Public consultation on the draft legislation opened on Friday and would close in January 2024, while the amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act would commence in May, the Treasury said.
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