ACCC: Compliance and Enforcement Priorities for 2025/26

Stephens Lawyers & Consultants

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (‘ACCC’), the agency responsible for enforcement of competition, consumer and product safety laws in Australia has issued its Compliance and Enforcement Priorities for 2025 to 2026[i]. 

Recognising cost of living, cost of doing business and the ongoing impacts of the digital economy’s transformation and disruption as some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing Australia’s economy and community[ii], the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025-26 will, in addition to its ‘enduring priorities’, focus on the following:-

• Competition/anti-competitive conduct – including to address misuse of market power and cartels;
• Competition and consumer issues and related pricing in the aviation, supermarket and retail sectors;
• Competition in essential services – with a continuing focus on telecommunications, electricity and gas markets;
• Competition and consumer protection issues in the digital economy;
• Consumer, fair trading and product safety concerns – particularly product safety for young children;
• Environmental and sustainability claims – with a focus on ‘greenwashing’;
• Addressing misleading card surcharging practices and other add on costs[iii];
• Compliance with unfair contract terms laws;
• Compliance with consumer guarantees – focussing on consumer electronics;
• The NDIS and improving compliance by NDIS suppliers with their obligations under the Australian Consumer Law.

The ACCC is also prioritising the successful implementation of the Australian Government’s new merger control regime, which will come into effect on 1 January, 2026[iv].

A.   ACCC Compliance and Enforcement Priorities for 2025/26

The ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities for 2025/26 set out the areas which will be the subject of ACCC scrutiny in 2025/26.  Some of the ACCC’s key areas of focus include:-

1. Protection and promotion of competition in the aviation sector

The ACCC will be giving continuing priority to protecting and increasing competition within the aviation sector – which “gives consumers more choice in the airfares they pay, the reliability and quality of the airline they fly with, and the routes they travel”.[v]

2. Competition and consumer issues in the digital economy 

Recognising the critical importance of digital products and services to Australian consumers and businesses, during 2025/26 the ACCC will be focusing on:-

• targeting anti-competitive and harmful conduct in digital services and products (such as search engines, app stores, social media services and online marketplaces) while seeking to maintain the right conditions for competition, innovation and growth; and
• prioritising product safety, consumer and fair trading issues in the digital economy with a focus on misleading or deceptive advertising within influencer marketing, online reviews, in-app purchases and unsafe consumer products.[vi]

The ACCC will also be working with Treasury towards implementing the Australian Government’s proposed new digital competition regime.[vii]

3. Competition in the supermarket and retail sector, with a focus on firms with market power and conduct that impacts small business and consumers

Results of a 2024 ACCC enquiry to examine pricing, competition and emerging issues in Australia’s supermarket sector indicate that “the retail sector of Australia’s supermarket industry is highly concentrated”[viii] resulting in Australian consumers, farmers and small businesses facing challenges from higher grocery prices, lack of choice and an imbalance of bargaining power between supermarkets and suppliers.[ix]

In 2024 the Australian government allocated $30million to the ACCC –  to be delivered over 3 and a half years – for the purpose of addressing competition and consumer concerns in the supermarket and broader retail sector.  With this funding the ACCC will focus on investigating and pursuing misleading pricing practices and anti-competitive conduct which may lead to higher prices for consumers and the unfair treatment of suppliers.

4. Competition in essential services, with a continuing focus on telecommunications and the energy sector.

The ACCC recognises that current and ongoing cost of living and cost of doing business concerns continue to make Australian consumers and small businesses particularly vulnerable to anti-competitive conduct in essential services – with impacts felt across pricing, choice and quality of services.

As a result, the ACCC will continue to prioritise the promotion of competition in essential services with a focus on telecommunications, electricity and gas – while continuing to address “conduct that causes significant harm or disproportionately impacts consumers experiencing disadvantage or vulnerability”[x].

5. A new focus for product safety for young children

Product safety remains an ‘enduring priority’ for the ACCC, extending to product safety for young children.  During 2025/26 the ACCC will continue to focus on the enforcement of button battery standards while adding a further and new focus on raising awareness about new infant sleep and toppling furniture standards, to encourage compliance with these standards.

6. A new priority on misleading surcharging practices and other add on costs

With the Australian government’s 2024 allocated and targeted funding of $2.1million, the ACCC will be focusing on:-

• Addressing misleading and excessive card surcharging practices and other add on costs – in particular, merchant surcharging that exceeds the cost of card acceptance; and
• Increasing business compliance with the excessive card payment prohibition and ensuring all add on costs are appropriately disclosed.

7. Consumer and competition issues relating to environmental claims and sustainability – with a focus on greenwashing

This will remain a key focus for the ACCC.  It reflects that many Australian consumers want to reduce negative impacts of their choices on the environment and actively seek and use environmental claims to decide where and on what goods and services to spend their money – often being prepared to pay more for goods/services which are environmentally sustainable.

ACCC Chair, Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb noted that “False or misleading claims distort purchasing decisions, erode consumer trust and unfairly disadvantage businesses who are making genuine claims…..In the year ahead, this priority will include a focus on greenwashing in recognition of the substantial impact of this conduct on consumer trust and engagement.”[xi]

In December 2023 the ACCC published principles-based guidance to assist businesses in making clear and accurate environmental claims[xii].  In October 2023 the ACCC’s Lithium-ion Batteries Report was published[xiii].

8. Unfair contract terms in consumer and business contracts

The ACCC continues to focus on compliance with unfair contract terms laws – supported by the introduction, in late 2023, of a prohibition of and penalties for unfair contract terms in standard form agreements used by larger businesses in their dealings with consumers and small businesses.  During 2025/26, the ACCC will focus on:-

• Harmful cancellation terms (including those terms associated with automatic renewals);
• Early termination fee clauses; and
• Non-cancellation clauses.

9. Improving industry compliance with consumer guarantees 

During 2025-26 the ACCC will continue to prioritise improving business compliance with consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law – with a continued focus on consumer electronics.

10. National Disability Insurance Scheme (‘NDIS’)

The ACCC will continue focusing on improving compliance by NDIS providers with their obligations under Australian Consumer Law.

11. Successful implementation of Australia’s new merger regime – A key ACCC priority for 2025/26

The Australian Parliament’s historic merger reform laws passed on 28 November, 2024.  The laws introduced the new regime for notifying and assessing “acquisitions of shares, assets, or of any other type as described in Part IVA of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010”[xiv] (‘notifiable acquisitions’) – which changed it from a voluntary, judicial model to a mandatory, administrative regime with the ACCC as the first instance decision maker on each notified acquisition[xv].  Businesses can use the regime voluntarily from 1 July 2025 and it will be mandatory from 1 January 2026.

The ACCC will be managing the transition to the new regime, as well as prioritising compliance and taking any necessary enforcement action.    On 4 March 2025, the ACCC published guidance – ‘Transition to a new merger control regime’[xvi] – to inform and guide businesses about how the ACCC proposes to manage the transition to the new regime.

In addition to these areas of focus, the ACCC compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025-26 extend to its ‘enduring priorities’ – including :-

12.  Protecting the small business sector from anti-competitive conduct and unfair trading terms

13.  Continuing priorities in consumer, fair trading and product safety

14.  Misuse of market power and cartels

15. Scam detection and disruption, including through the ACCC Scamwatch service, and supporting the work of the National Anti Scam Centre.

16. Conduct impacting First Nations Australians

 B.  ACCC Compliance and Enforcement Objectives & Strategy

While the ACCC is unable to pursue all matters that come to its attention, neither is the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement work limited to these priorities.  Rather, the ACCC exercises discretion to direct resources to matters that provide the greatest overall benefit for the consumer and competition while also prioritising matters which come within the current priority areas.  In addition to matters which come within the current priority areas, particular consideration is also given to matters which involve other priority factors such as:-

1. conduct that is of significant public interest or concern;
2. conduct that results in substantial consumer or small business detriment;
3. conduct that has a significant impact on the cost of living;
4. national conduct involving large traders – with the potential for greater consumer detriment and the likelihood that conduct of large traders can influence other market participants;
5. conduct or practices that disproportionately targets consumers experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage;
6. conduct involving a significant new or emerging market issue or where ACCC action is likely to have an educative or deterrent effect;
7. whether the ACCC’s action will assist to clarify aspects of the law or new provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

ACCC compliance and enforcement strategy

To achieve its compliance objectives the ACCC uses a number of flexible and integrated strategies, including:-

1. Encouraging compliance with the law – including by educating and informing consumers, businesses and traders about their rights and obligations under the Act. Compliance activities undertaken by the ACCC can include:-

• Targeted education campaigns – to encourage compliance with the law;
• Scams detection and disruption;
• Industry engagement – including with key industry stakeholders;
• Research and advocacy – including advocacy for the introduction of a prohibition on unfair trading practices[xvii] and conducting research on potential new and emerging competition and consumer policy issues.

2. Enforcement of the law – including through administrative resolution and through litigation/court action and other available formal enforcement actions;
3. Undertaking market studies– including at the direction of the Minister – which can assist the ACCC to identify emerging competition and consumer issues as well as any market failures and how to address them;
4. Working with other agencies to implement these strategies – including, for example, through coordinated approaches between state and territory consumer regulators which carry out the compliance and enforcement of the Australian Consumer Law.

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Disclaimer: This update is not intended to replace obtaining legal advice

© Stephens Lawyers & Consultants, 1 April, 2025; Authored by Rochina Iannella, Lawyer and edited by Katarina Klaric, Stephens Lawyers & Consultants

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Stephens Lawyers & Consultants

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[i] ACCC, ‘Compliance and Enforcement Policy and Priorities’ February 2025 – https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/accc-priorities/compliance-and-enforcement-priorities

[ii] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 ‘Introduction’ – ACCC’s compliance and enforcement priorities update 2025-26 address | ACCC

[iii]Ibid., ‘A new priority on misleading surcharging practices and other add on costs’

[iv] Ibid., ‘Australia’s new merger regime’

[v] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 – ‘Protecting and promoting competition’

[vi] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 – ‘Continuing priorities in consumer, fair trading and product safety’

[vii] Ibid., “Competition in the digital economy’

[viii] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 – ‘Competition in supermarket and retail sector’

[ix] Ibid.

[x] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 – ‘Confident, informed consumers drive competition’

[xi] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 – ‘Continuing focus on environmental claims and sustainability’

[xii] ACCC, ‘Making Environmental Claims: a Guide for Business’, 12 December 2023,   Making environmental claims: A guide for business | ACCC

[xiii] ACCC, ‘Lithium-ion batteries and consumer product safety’, 5 October, 2023 – Lithium-ion batteries and consumer product safety | ACCC

[xiv] ACCC, ‘Transition to a new merger control regime’, 4 March 2025 – at page 2

[xv] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 – ‘Australia’s new merger regime’

[xvi] ACCC, ‘Transition to a new merger control regime’, 4 March 2025 – https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/merger-reform-transition-to-new-merger-control-regime-4-March-2025_0.pdf

[xvii] ACCC Chair Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC’s Compliance and Enforcement Priorities Update 2025-26 address, 20 February 2025 – ‘Unfair trading practices reform’