Doubling down: the Australian Government doubles penalties for serious competition and consumer law breaches

What you need to know

On 26 March 2026, the Commonwealth Government passed legislation doubling the maximum penalties for contraventions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA) and the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). Here is what you need to know:

• The maximum corporate penalties for breaches of the competition and consumer law have doubled, with the fixed penalty limb rising from $50 million to $100 million per contravention.
• The new $100 million maximum penalty also applies to the new merger regime, for failures to notify the ACCC of acquisitions that meet the notification thresholds.
• The increased penalties apply economy-wide, although the reforms were prompted by rising fuel costs as a result of the war in the Middle East.

What you need to do

Businesses operating in Australia should be doubling down on their competition and consumer law compliance efforts, as the consequences of breach are now even more significant.

• Review and update compliance programmes. Businesses that have not recently refreshed their competition and consumer law compliance programmes should do so, taking into account the higher maximum penalties and the ACCC's enforcement priorities (see link to our article here).
• Invest in targeted competition and consumer law compliance training. Front-line staff, sales teams, and commercial decision-makers should receive regular training on competition and consumer law obligations — with particular emphasis on cartel conduct, misleading representations, and misleading pricing practices.
• Audit pricing and market conduct. Businesses in the fuel, energy, and essential services sectors should be particularly vigilant, and proactively review pricing practices and market communications to ensure they cannot be characterised as misleading or anti-competitive. Retailers should ensure that any reasons given for price increases are accurate and stand up to scrutiny.

The Commonwealth Government has expressed concerns that companies may exploit the rising fuel prices due to the Middle Eastern conflict by engaging in anticompetitive conduct or breaching consumer law to inflate their profits. The Government considered that the existing maximum penalties under the CCA were insufficient to deter companies from engaging in anti-competitive and anti-consumer behaviour, pointing to research by the OECD that found Australia's penalties were low by international standards. It has only been three and a half years since the Australian Government last increased the maximum penalties (see our previous article from October 2022 here).

What has changed?

The fixed monetary limb of the maximum penalty for corporations increased from $50 million to $100 million per contravention for breaches of competition and consumer law protections under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Act 2026 (Act), passed on 26 March 2026.

The doubling applies to the most significant competition and consumer law prohibitions, including:

• Anti-competitive conduct including cartel conduct, concerted practices, misuse of market power, exclusive dealing and resale price maintenance.
• Merger regime related conduct including failing to notify the ACCC of an acquisition that is required to be notified, gun jumping and failing to comply with the conditions of merger clearance.
• Consumer law contraventions including unconscionable conduct, making false or misleading representations, breaches of product safety standards, etc.
• Sector-specific provisions including breaches of civil penalty provisions in gas market instruments and engaging in particular prohibited conduct in the electricity industry.

Maximum penalty for a body corporate for breaches going forward will be the greatest of:

• $100 million (increased from $50 million);
• if the court can determine the value of the benefit obtained — three times the value of that benefit; or
• if the court cannot determine the value of the benefit obtained — 30% of the corporation's adjusted turnover during the breach turnover period for the relevant act or omission.

The second and third limbs of the maximum penalties provisions were not amended. Similarly, the maximum penalties applicable to individuals have not changed. The Act also does not amend the maximum penalties in the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act 2001 (Cth) (ASIC Act), despite the ASIC Act replicating various ACL prohibitions. It is possible that this discrepancy will be resolved in the future by similarly increasing the penalties for the relevant prohibitions in the ASIC Act.

What is the practical effect of this change?

Effects on penalties

Practically, the doubling of maximum penalties means that we are likely to see Courts imposing even higher penalties for anticompetitive conduct and breaches of consumer law, although this will take time to fully materialise given the lead time involved in investigating breaches and enforcement proceedings.

To determine the appropriate penalty in any given case, Australian Courts apply a well-established framework that takes into account a range of factors beyond the maximum penalty amount, including the nature, extent, and duration of the contravening conduct, the size and financial position of the contravener, the amount of any benefit derived, the degree of cooperation with the ACCC, the deterrent effect of the penalty on the contravener and on others, and whether the contravener has previously been found to have engaged in similar conduct.

The trend in recent years has been towards substantially higher penalties, with the ACCC seeking and Courts increasingly willing to impose penalties at the higher end of the spectrum. Examples of some of the highest penalties imposed in recent competition and consumer law matters include:

With the increase in maximum penalties, this trend towards higher penalties is likely to accelerate.

The Government has emphasised that the increased maximum penalties are intended to apply in the most egregious instances of non-compliance. The ACCC has welcomed the amendments and publicly announced that they "will seek the highest penalties appropriate in any cases we bring to the courts".

Practical implications for business

1. Heightened enforcement risk

The doubling of penalties signals a clear escalation in the Government's expectations that the ACCC pursue large penalties for anti-competitive conduct and consumer law breaches. Businesses should expect the ACCC to seek — and courts to award —higher penalties than those we have seem to date.

2. Focus on the fuel sector and cost-of-living pressures

The context to the penalty reforms makes it likely that the fuel sector will attract particular scrutiny from the ACCC, following its announcement of its investigation into petrol and diesel prices set by major fuel suppliers in the wake of the Middle Eastern conflict. The fuel sector is also facing Government scrutiny, with a taskforce established to ensure sufficiency of supply across the country.

More broadly, any sector in which consumers are experiencing cost-of-living pressures — including groceries, energy, and essential services — is likely to face heightened regulatory attention. We expect the ACCC to pursue conduct that inflates prices or misleads consumers during periods of economic stress with renewed vigour.

Other authors: Venthan Brabaakaran, Expertise Lawyer and Sophie Doyle, Lawyer.

Want to know more?

• Competition and consumer law penalties drastically increased plus unfair contract terms prohibited (27 October 2022)
• The Year Ahead: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission focusses on 11 priorities (23 February 2026)