ACCC Responds to Calls for an Investigation into Online Marketing of Fashion

The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has announced that it intends to investigate clothing importers who are alleged to be reaching agreements with overseas suppliers to stop selling their products to Australians via the web or alternatively advising them to lift their prices on the web.

The inquiry announced by the ACCC chairman is an acknowledgment that anti-competition practices revealed by the The Age in recent times were possible breaches of the Competition and Consumer Legislation.

The Age quotes the chairman as saying that “an investigation would be launched, and companies found breaking the law would be prosecuted.”

The chairman is further quoted as saying that “Making sure Australian consumers benefit from the revolution that we've got in the online world is a top priority … We will therefore use the [Competition and Consumer] act to its fullest.'' 

It will be interesting to see if the ACC has more success in this investigation than it has had in the past with similar inquiries into Petrol Prices and Food Prices.

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