Double trouble: Penalties doubled for competition and consumer law breaches
- By Teresa Torcasio
- Jul 12
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 13
The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (‘the Act‘) has been amended by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Act 2026 to provide for the doubling of the first limb of the maximum penalty test for many competition and consumer law breaches of the Act.
The amendments came into force on 28 March 2026 and apply to breaches on and from that date.
The new maximum penalty
As a result of the changes, the maximum pecuniary penalty for relevant breaches is now the greater of:
$100,000,000 (doubled from $50,000,000);
if the Court can determine the value of the reasonably attributable benefit obtained, 3 times that value; and
if the Court cannot determine the value of the reasonably attributable benefit, 30% of the corporation’s adjusted turnover during the breach turnover period for the contravention.
The latter two limbs remain unchanged.
Why now?
In mid-March, the ACCC highlighted the impacts of the war in the Middle East on the cost of fuel and other supply chains in Australia, and the potential for breaches of competition and consumer laws.
While the Australian Government expressly called out the fuel industry when introducing the legislation and warned against using the war to take advantage of Australians, the change applies across the economy and is permanent.
This is the second change in recent years, with the fixed limb previously being lifted from $10 million to $50 million in 2022. The change seeks to increase the deterrent effect of the penalties, particularly in light of the increased vulnerability of consumers facing cost of living pressures.
What does it cover?
The increased maximum penalty applies to a broad range of civil penalty contraventions under the Act, including both competition and consumer law breaches. These include, price fixing, collusion and other cartel behaviour, misuse of market power, exclusive dealing unfair contract terms, false or misleading representations and unconscionable conduct.
What does this mean for businesses?
The increased penalties significantly raise the consequences of non‑compliance in areas that are already under active scrutiny by the ACCC, including pricing, promotional campaigns and unfair contract terms in standard form contracts.
For businesses, this reinforces the need to ensure that marketing practices and contract terms are accurate, transparent and carefully structured, particularly in light of unfair contract terms risk. This is especially important where those practices are applied across large scale or recurring campaigns and standard form contracts, as each instance of non-compliance may constitute a separate contravention.
How can we help?
The importance of transparent pricing cannot be understated. Read our recent article on this topic here.
We have also published a series of articles on unfair contract terms which you can access here.
Our dedicated Commercial team are experts on competition and consumer law across a variety of industries. Please reach out to us if you require bespoke advice on pricing or other compliance, or if you have any questions.
Author Commentary
What is striking about these changes is not just the scale of the increase, but how they were introduced. While previous increases followed a more extended period of policy development, these amendments were brought forward in a more compressed timeframe, in response to concerns about pricing behaviour linked to geopolitical disruption and cost of living pressures.
Despite that context, they operate as a permanent uplift in penalty exposure across the economy.
That combination is likely to take some businesses by surprise. It also reinforces that the reforms are intended to have a genuine deterrent effect, rather than being absorbed as part of the cost of doing business.
Authored by Teresa Torcasio of HWLE
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Teresa is a highly experienced partner in the corporate and commercial team, with over 25 years’ experience as a commercial law specialist.
Teresa advises clients on general commercial law and corporate transactions, including ongoing supply, manufacturing and distribution arrangements, supplier and manufacturer liability, product recalls, procurement, transport and logistics contracts, acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, corporate restructuring and strategic alliances. Her comprehensive knowledge of the Australian Consumer Law has assisted her to advise clients on their risks, rights and obligations as buyers and sellers of goods and services and to negotiate excellent outcomes for her clients. She has written numerous articles on commercial contracting, greenwashing, consumer guarantee protection, unfair practices and unfair contract terms (including a recent series of articles on the unfair contract terms regime aimed at helping businesses to understand their requirements under the regime, which can be found here). Teresa has been named in Best Lawyers™ Australia for her work in Commercial Law and Sports Law.
Prior to joining HWLE Lawyers, Teresa was an executive counsel at Freehills and a partner at Thompson Geer.
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