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Australian Consumer Law

Overview of consumer law

Sellers have resopnsibilites to customers and constomers have common law and statutory rights with respect to the sale/purchase of goods and services. Australian Consumer Law (ACL) serves as the cornerstone of consumer protection legislation across Australia, unifying various state and territory laws under a single, comprehensive framework. Enacted in 2011, the ACL aims to safeguard the rights and interests of consumers while promoting fair trading practices and marketplace competition. It covers a wide range of areas, including consumer guarantees, product safety standards, misleading and deceptive conduct, unfair contract terms, and consumer rights in relation to goods and services. Administered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and state/territory fair trading agencies, the ACL provides consumers with robust protections against unfair practices and ensures that businesses operate responsibly and ethically in their dealings with customers.

Australian consumer protections

Australian consumer law provides several fundamental protections to consumers, ensuring fairness, transparency, and safety in the marketplace. Some of the basic consumer protections under Australian law include:

Consumer Guarantees: 

Consumers are entitled to certain guarantees regarding the quality, fitness for purpose, and performance of goods and services they purchase. These guarantees include guarantees of acceptable quality, fitness for a particular purpose, and matching description or sample.

Product Safety Standards: 

Australian law mandates that products sold in the country meet specific safety standards to protect consumers from harm. Businesses are required to ensure that the products they sell are safe for their intended use and comply with relevant safety standards and regulations.

Misleading and Deceptive Conduct: 

It is illegal for businesses to engage in misleading or deceptive conduct or make false representations about goods or services. This includes false advertising, deceptive pricing, and misleading claims about product features or benefits.

Unfair Contract Terms: 

Consumers are protected against unfair contract terms in standard form contracts, such as those used for consumer goods and services. Unfair terms that create a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the detriment of the consumer may be deemed void and unenforceable.

Consumer Remedies:

If a product or service does not meet consumer guarantees or is faulty, consumers have rights to remedies such as repair, replacement, or refund. These remedies ensure that consumers are adequately compensated for any loss or damage caused by defective goods or services.

Cooling-off Periods:

Certain consumer transactions, such as door-to-door sales and unsolicited sales, may be subject to cooling-off periods, during which consumers have the right to cancel the contract without penalty.

Product quality

A significant factor in product quality is it's durability. Ultimately It is up to of the court or tribunal to determine whether or not a good is reasonably durable. Wether a particular good is durable depends on a number of factors including the nature of the good, which may include considerations such as:

  • The materials used or composition of the components
  • The type of good and how the good is used
  • Whether the good is a new good, a factory second or sold second‑hand by a business.
  • The price of the good
  • Statements made about the good, either on the packaging or by the supplier or manufacturer.

Using a product outside the intended circumstances or without proper care and maintenance may lead to product failure, such failure may not mean the product was not of sufficent quality.

What is a safe product?

The ACL does not provide a legislated definition of what constitues a safe produc, but does provide guidance. Some key points follow. Further detail is available in the ACL guide.

When considering if a good is safe, the ACL says a reasonable consumer takes into account:

  • the nature of the good and it's normal use
  • the price of the good
  • any statement or representation made about the good, either on the packaging or by the supplier or manufacturer of the good.

A reasonable consumer would also take into account any other relevant circumstances, which could include:

  • instructions and warnings for assembly and use 
  • the age of the good and the amount of usage and maintenance received 
  • any existing mandatory safety standards and bans.

In addition to consumer guarantees, the ACL includes a separate product safety regime that provides for mandatory regulated safety requirements, product recalls and bans. The tests under this regime are separate to the test for whether or not a good meets the consumer guarantee of acceptable quality. Likewise equipment and product safety requirements may be stipulated in other non-consumer legislation, standards and schemes. One such scheme is the Electrical Equipment Safety System. Some types of products that are regulated by specialistagencies include:

  • Food and beverages
  • Medicine and medical (therapeutic) devices
  • Electrical Goods
  • Building products
  • Marine safety goods and vessels
  • Road vehicles and other transport products
  • Agricultural and veterinary chemical products
  • Gas appliances
  • Industrial chemicals

You can find a list of specialist agencies on the Product Safety Australia website: www.productsafety.gov.au.


The Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS)

This section applies to the EESS which applies to a number of States and Territories across Australia, other states may have mutual recognition provisions e.g. S.A. and any may have additional requirements e.g., if you’re selling into NSW one requirement relates to "declard items".

The Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS) is a regulatory framework implemented in Australia to enhance the safety of electrical equipment. Under the EESS, electrical equipment is categorized into three levels, based on risk, with different regulatory requirements for each level. 

  • Level 1 equipment poses lower risks and is subject to basic regulatory controls, while 
  • Level 2 & Level 3 equipment presents higher risks and undergoes more stringent certification and compliance processes. 

The EESS aims to streamline compliance and market access for electrical equipment by facilitating uniform regulation across participating jurisdictions in Australia and New Zealand. It is administered by the Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council (ERAC) and overseen by state and territory electrical safety regulators.

Contacting Customers

Unsoliceted (uninvited) customer contact or 'cold calling' for marketing/soliciting purposes is regulated throughout Australia. Customers subscribing to a newsletter, product notification or using our contact form invite contact. It is unlawful to coerce or unduly harass someone about the supply of, or payment for, goods or services.

Restictions may vary based on location and mode of contact e.g. prospective customers may only be approached at certain times or there may be a 'cooling off' period where the customer may be able to cancel the agreement and the supplier may be prohbited from supplying the goods and services during that period.

Email: sending commercial content to customers with whom a seller does not have an existing relationship and where the customer has not initiated the contact is considered spam, it is generally prohibited. C

Door to Door and other face to face: methods typically have a cooling off period if agreement was not reached within the businesses permises and prohbited unsolicatated contact outside 9am to 5pm on business days (times vary State to State). 

Door to door salesman must obey a "no sales people" or similar signage, and also must leave if asked to do so and must not approach the customer again within 30 days.

Phone marketing (or teli-marketing): contact is also resticted to a simlar time frames. Vendors must not initiate contact with prospective customers who are on the do not call register and must identify themselves and/or business and purpose.

Cooling off: Where a cooling off period applies it typically means no services must be provided during that time and the provision of goods is limited.