Fair Work inspectors will audit up to 100 Canberra restaurants between now and February, 2012, as part of a new Australian Government education and compliance campaign. Inspectors will check that employers are paying staff their full entitlements, including minimum pay rates and penalty rates, and are complying with record-keeping obligations. In the ACT, restaurants and cafes are among the main sources of underpayment complaints to the Fair Work Ombudsman and calls to the Fair Work Infoline. The... ...Read more »

Small Business Minister Dr Craig Emerson last week announced sweeping reforms of the Franchising Code of Conduct, including the requirement to provide plain-English disclosures of rights and responsibilities to potential franchisees. The Australian Franchise Council welcomed the reforms, saying that “the FCA welcomes both the Government decision and the recommendations by the expert panel, especially the decision against creating both new rules for good faith or unconscionable conduct in the franchising... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) yesterday announced further agreements with major supermarket retailers to phase out restrictive provisions in supermarket leases in a bid to limit the market power of the major retailers. Competition Minister Dr Craig Emerson last month said that the  move will ensure the ACCC has the ability to reject acquisitions that would substantially lessen competition in any local, regional or national market. ALDI Foods Pty Ltd, Franklins Pty Ltd,... ...Read more »

The Federal Government is set to amend the Trade Practices Act to deal with creeping acquisitions, in a bid to limit the market power of the major retailers. The move will ensure the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has the ability to reject acquisitions that would substantially lessen competition in any local, regional or national market, Competition Minister Dr Craig Emerson said. “This comes after private legal opinion questioned whether the ACCC has the power to consider... ...Read more »

The Full Federal Court of Australia has unanimously dismissed an appeal by Mars Australia, makers of Maltesers against a rival confectionery product. On Friday, the Full Court agreed with the trial judge in Mars Australia Pty Ltd v Sweet Rewards Pty Ltd [2009] FCAFC 174 that the Malt Balls product sold by Sweet Rewards did not infringe the registered trademark of Mars Australia brand Maltesers, and did not mislead or deceive consumers of Maltesers. In its appeal filed in June, Mars Australia had... ...Read more »

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation has discovered that some distributors may have misled consumers with assertions that their product was extra virgin olive oil. As such, three companies have agreed to carry out more testing to ensure they do not fall foul of the Trade Practices Act. “Certain importers, distributors and retailers will now conduct more testing to verify that the extra virgin olive oil they supply is as claimed,” ACCC Chairman, Graeme Samuel,... ...Read more »

Juice and dairy manufacturer Harvey Fresh has been fined $12,000 by the Perth Federal Court for mislabelling cheese products, ABC Online reported. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission instituted proceedings in May against Harvey Fresh, alleging misrepresentations about the origin of some cheese products. The enforcer of the Trade Practices Act said that Harvey Fresh had represented the place of origin of its one kilogram blocks of Matured Cheese and Semi Matured Cheese as being the... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court, Sydney against Personalised Chocolates 4U Pty Ltd and its director, Troy Patching, for alleged contraventions of the Trade Practices Act 1974.The ACCC has alleged that PC4U marketed and sold personalised chocolate franchises by making false, misleading and deceptive representations, including representations that: * software essential to the franchise business would be provided to franchisees when... ...Read more »

The Federal Government’s unit pricing* Code of Conduct becomes operable today, with retailers given until 1 December 2009 to display unit pricing on food based grocery items. The Australian National Retailers Association, which represents Coles, Woolworths and Franklins, said today that many supermarkets had already made the move ahead of schedule. “Thousands of every day grocery items across the country’s largest supermarkets already display unit prices,” ANRA CEO Margy Osmond... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has recently released the Food Labelling Guide, which has been designed to ensure food and beverage marketers are aware of their obligations to ensure all advertising and food labels are accurate. Any misleading information on packaging or in advertising is pursued by the ACCC under the Trade Practices Act. The Guide is a supplement to the competition regulator’s 2006 publication – Food and beverage industry: food descriptors guideline... ...Read more »