International Law

The Senate Standing Committee on Economics has released its report on the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Bill 2009. It recommended the Bill be passed.

Recommendations

The report considers submissions in respect of uncertainty caused by the Bill: the Commuittee recommends this be addressed by ACCC and ASIC issuing a set of guidelines on the operation of the bill's provisions to assist all parties to understand their rights and obligations under the new regime. The guidelines should make reference to the examples in the grey list in section 4 of the bill.

In respect of insurance contracts (which are exempt from the Bill) the committee is of the view that consumers are not provided with adequate protection in insurance contracts under existing law and that either the Insurance Contracts Act or the ACL be amended to give consumers equivalent protection.