COAG Consultation Regulation Impact Statement – Ministers responsible for Consumer Affairs
On 14 December 2021, the Treasury on behalf of Consumer Senior Officials released a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for consultation on options to ensure businesses comply with the consumer guarantees and consumers can access the remedies to which they are entitled, and options to prohibit manufacturers from failing to indemnify suppliers.
The RIS considers that consumers are not always given the remedies they are entitled to, and manufacturers often fail to indemnify suppliers against failures. In addition to the status quo (option 1), the RIS is consulting on two broad options. The costs and benefits of both options are assessed if applied across all sectors of the economy, and if applied to new motor vehicles only.
Option 2 proposes a 3-month education campaign for consumers to improve understanding of consumer guarantees and the types of remedies they are entitled to, and educating suppliers and manufacturers about their responsibilities to provide remedies. Option 3 proposes new civil prohibitions and penalties under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) to prohibit suppliers and manufacturers from not providing a remedy for a consumer guarantee failure as required under the law. ACL amendments are also proposed to prohibit manufacturers from not indemnifying suppliers when requested and/or to make it unlawful for a manufacturer to retaliate against a supplier for seeking indemnification for a consumer guarantee failure under the ACL.
The Consultation RIS has been assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation as compliant with the requirements set out in the Regulatory Impact Analysis Guide for Ministers’ Meetings and National Standard Setting Bodies.
Comments on this Consultation RIS are invited by close of business 11 February 2022. More information on the consultation process, including how to make a submission, can be found here