Earlier this year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced its compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025–26.  These priorities offer a crucial roadmap for Australian businesses, providing insights into the ACCC’s regulatory direction and the sectors under increased scrutiny.  This blog provides an overview of the ACCC’s priorities for 2025-26, along with practical steps for businesses to stay compliant and avoid costly enforcement action.

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1. Key Priorities for 2025–26

Each year, the ACCC announces specific areas where it will direct its compliance and enforcement efforts, reflecting current market trends and emerging risks to competition and consumer welfare.  For 2025–26, the ACCC’s priorities address a mix of ongoing and newly identified concerns, particularly in digital markets, retail pricing, and sustainability.  These areas are where businesses can expect closer scrutiny and, where necessary, enforcement action.

a. Supermarkets and Retail Sectors

The ACCC will prioritise competition and consumer concerns in the supermarket and retail sectors, focusing on firms with market power and conduct that affects small businesses. This includes addressing consumer and fair trading issues, with particular attention to misleading pricing practices.  

In October 2024, the Australian Government announced it would provide the ACCC with approximately $30 million in additional funding to support investigations and enforcement activities in the supermarket and retail sectors.  The funding is designed to enhance the ACCC’s ability to proactively monitor behaviour and investigate pricing practices where there are concerns about supermarkets and retailers falsely justifying higher prices.

b. Essential Services

The ACCC has identified essential services - including telecommunications, electricity, and gas - as a key area of focus in its 2025–26 compliance and enforcement priorities.  It will be targeting competition issues in these sectors to address market concentration and ensure fairer outcomes for consumers and small businesses.

In addition to competition concerns, the ACCC will focus on misleading pricing and claims in essential services, particularly in the energy and telecommunications sectors. Businesses operating in these markets should expect increased scrutiny of their advertising and pricing practices to ensure compliance with the Australian Consumer Law.

c. Digital Economy

The ACCC will prioritise competition and consumer law issues in the digital economy, given its ongoing concerns about the market power of digital platforms and emerging risks to consumers.  A particular focus for 2025–26 will be on misleading or deceptive advertising practices - especially within influencer marketing, online reviews, price comparison websites, in-app purchases, and unsafe consumer products.

In December 2024, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released a proposal for a new digital competition regime.  The ACCC is working with Treasury on the development of this regime, which is intended to address anti-competitive conduct by major digital platforms, reduce barriers to entry, and promote fairer outcomes for consumers and businesses in digital markets.  

More information about the proposed digital competition regime can be found here.

d. Unfair Contract Terms

The ACCC will prioritise unfair contract terms in consumer and small business contracts, recognising the imbalance of power between larger businesses that impose standard form contracts and small businesses and consumers.  In 2025–26, this priority will include a focus on harmful cancellation terms, such as those associated with automatic renewals, early termination fee clauses, and non-cancellation clauses.

e. Environmental Claims and Sustainability

The ACCC will prioritise consumer, fair trading and competition concerns in relation to environmental claims and sustainability, with a particular focus on “greenwashing”.  Greenwashing is the practice of overstating or misrepresenting the environmental benefits of a product, service or business.  It can mislead consumers who are trying to make environmentally conscious choices and create an unfair advantage over businesses making genuine sustainability efforts.  

As more businesses incorporate environmental messaging into their marketing, the ACCC is increasingly concerned about claims that are false, misleading or unsubstantiated.

f. Other Priorities for 2025-26

In addition to the priorities outlined above, the ACCC will also focus on a range of other important issues in 2025–26, including the following:

• Competition and consumer issues in the aviation sector.
• Misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs.
• Improving industry compliance with consumer guarantees, with a focus on consumer electronics.
• Improving compliance by NDIS providers with their obligations under Australian Consumer Law.
• Consumer product safety issues for young children, with a focus on compliance with button battery standards and raising awareness about new infant sleep and toppling furniture standards.

While not listed as a specific compliance and enforcement priority, the ACCC has identified the successful implementation of the new merger control regime as a key focus for 2025–26.  For more details about the new merger control regime, refer to our recent blog, ACCC Consults on New Merger Assessment Guidelines: A Step Towards Greater Transparency and Predictability.

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2. Enduring Priorities

In addition to its key priorities for 2025–26, the ACCC remains committed to several long-term priorities that focus on conduct detrimental to consumer welfare and the competitive process.  These enduring priorities include tackling cartel conduct, addressing anti-competitive behaviour, ensuring product safety, and protecting vulnerable consumers.  The ACCC is also dedicated to supporting small businesses, combating scams, and promoting fairness for First Nations Australians.

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3. Enforcement Action and Tools

The ACCC employs a comprehensive suite of enforcement tools to uphold the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and promote fair trading.  These tools include administrative resolutions (essentially a commitment or agreement by the infringing trader to act or cease acting in a certain way), infringement notices, enforceable undertakings, and litigation. Litigation may result in court declarations of contraventions, injunctions, financial penalties, corrective advertising, compensation orders, compliance or training requirements, director disqualifications, convictions for offences, and prison sentences for serious cartel conduct.

In addition to enforcement actions, the ACCC continues to utilise its full range of powers to enhance consumer welfare.  This encompasses delivering Australian Consumer Law and industry code compliance initiatives and exploring new methods to elevate the standard of acceptable business practices in Australia.

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4. Practical Steps for Businesses

Understanding and aligning with the ACCC’s priorities is essential for reducing regulatory risk and maintaining compliance.  Businesses should take proactive steps, including:

• Reviewing all consumer-facing practices (particularly in digital channels) to ensure compliance with the Australian Consumer Law.
• Auditing environmental and sustainability claims made by the business to ensure they are accurate, substantiated, and not misleading, in light of the ACCC’s focus on greenwashing.
• Reviewing and updating standard form contracts to remove potentially unfair terms, especially in dealings with consumers and small businesses.
• Providing staff training and updating internal compliance programs to reflect the ACCC’s 2025-26 compliance and enforcement priorities.
• Reviewing product safety compliance across the supply chain, with a focus on high-risk products and mandatory reporting obligations.

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5. How We Can Help

Navigating the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement landscape requires a proactive approach.  At Sierra Legal, our team of commercial law experts is equipped to help your business navigate the ACCC’s 2025–26 priorities.  Contact us to discuss how we can help.

You can access the ACCC’s 2025-26 Compliance and Enforcement Policy and Priorities here.

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