Greater protection against unfair trading practices: what you need to know
The Albanese Government is introducing new initiatives to tackle unfair trading practices. But what will these initiatives do to support and protect your small business? We have the answers.
#unfairtrading #businesstips
As set out in the recent Federal Budget, the Albanese Labor Government is extending protections against unfair trading practices to small businesses.
This initiative acknowledges the power imbalances you may sometimes experience as a small business dealing with larger entities that have more buying power.
But what do these protections actually mean for your company? What protections are being extended to small businesses?
Let’s take a look at the main points around unfair trading practices and what the current government plans to do to make trading easier for your small business.
These measures include:
Extending protections
The Government is addressing a gap in legal protections for small businesses against unfair trading practices, to help support competition.
Consultation
The Treasury will be conducting consultations this year to get feedback from small businesses and to design these protections as effectively as possible.
Principles-based prohibition
The Government is considering a principles-based approach to prohibiting unfair practices, as well as targeting specific unfair practices.
Targeted unfair practices
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has highlighted several unfair practices. These include larger businesses using their bargaining power to pressure smaller suppliers, tactics discouraging small businesses from exercising legal rights and retailers threatening to de-list suppliers.
Levelling the playing field
This initiative builds on existing actions to improve fairness for Australia's 2.6 million small businesses, including improvements to the Franchising Code of Conduct and new measures to improve payment times.
Talk to us about your experiences of unfair trading practices
Many small businesses find themselves in competition with larger and more powerful enterprises, or negotiating supplier terms that don’t do them any favours.
If you are looking to level the playing field, come and talk to us about your trading strategy and key ways to take on the big companies.
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