New ACL obligations: Unfair Trading Practices provisions in effect from 1 July 2027

We examine the new unfair trading practices regime.

On 2 July 2026, the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 (Cth) (Bill) passed both Houses of Parliament without any amendments.

From 1 July 2027, the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) will include the new unfair trading practices (UTP) regime which includes:

• a general prohibition on UTP towards individual consumers;
• display requirements for transaction-based charges to protect against drip pricing and ensure potential buyers are aware of all mandatory charges during the purchase process; and
• additional requirements for subscription contracts to protect against subscription practices that are detrimental to consumers and small businesses.

Contravention of the UTP regime give rise to the ACL maximum penalties.

Overview of the new requirements

General UTP prohibition

There are two limbs to the new general UTP prohibition:

A person will engage in unfair trading practices where:

• • Limb 1: Conduct occurs that does, or is likely to:
    • manipulate the consumer; and/or
    • unreasonably distort the environment in which the consumer makes, or is likely to make a decision; and
  • Limb 2: the conduct is likely to cause detriment (financial or otherwise) to the consumer.

The general UTP prohibition seeks to prohibit conduct that may pressure consumers into unintended actions, often without the consumer’s full awareness. Subsection 28B(6) sets out a non-exhaustive list of possible conduct that may be unfair trading practices that includes:

• impeding the consumer’s ability to exercise legal rights, or seek legal remedies;
• failing to disclose material information to the consumer or disclosing material information to the consumer in a ‘complex, ineffective, unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous, untimely or overwhelming way’; and
• creating an environment (including by using design elements in digital interfaces) which places the consumer under unreasonable pressure in relation to, or obstructs the consumer from, making or fulfilling the consumer’s decision.

The general UTP prohibition applies to conduct occurring on or after commencement, even if connected with a supply or offer made before commencement.

Requirement to display transaction based charges

The display requirements apply when goods or services are offered for supply, and a transaction based charge would or may apply. A ‘transaction based charge’ is a charge that is not the amount payable for the goods or services themselves, and is payable at the same time as the amount payable for the goods or services themselves (but is not the amount payable itself). Subsection 48A(9) provides for a mechanism where regulations may prescribe a charge as an excluded charge and may prescribe different circumstances for different charges. Charges such as payment surcharges and taxes and duties imposed on the supplier are excluded.

The following information must be displayed legibly, prominently and unambiguously while the base price is displayed and in close proximity to the base price:

• the amount of a transaction based charge (if it can be if it can be calculated, or otherwise the method for calculating it);
• information making it clear that the charge is a per transaction charge;
• whether the transaction based charge is or may be payable; and
• whether or not the base price includes the transaction based charge.

The transaction-based charge rule applies each time a base price is displayed, such that the base price and required information may differ at different stages of the purchase process. This is practically important for online customer journeys, carts and checkout pages.

Requirements for subscription contracts

Relevant subscription contracts must legibly, prominently and unambiguously disclose it is a subscription contract and further disclose key terms regarding contract period, liabilities and charges, contract trial periods, renewal or continuation terms, any notice required to terminate, the process for termination, and any other information prescribed by regulation.

Businesses must also ensure there is an easy and straightforward way for subscribers to end their subscription that requires the subscriber to take only reasonably necessary steps. Subscription contracts entered online must be able to be ended online.

The subscription provisions apply to contracts entered into on or after commencement, and to pre-commencement contracts if renewed, extended, otherwise continued or varied on or after commencement.

For a deeper dive on the new obligations and requirements, see our deep dive blog post published in April.

Who is protected under the new regime?

The general UTP protections will only apply to individual consumers and not small businesses.

By contrast, consumers and small businesses (excluding offers made exclusively to a body corporate) may take advantage of the transaction based charges protections where the goods or services are of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption.

The subscription contract protections will protect consumers and small businesses (limited to businesses which employ fewer than 100 persons or had less than $10m of turnover last income year, and where the subscription contract is a standard form contract).

The scope of the protections may undergo further reform before the UTP regime commences on 1 July 2027. The Government is currently conducting a public consultation on extending the general UTP prohibitions to protect small businesses and franchisees in circumstances where they:

• buy goods and services like a consumer; and
• trade with other businesses.

At this stage the UTP regime is only contained in the ACL (and not the ASIC Act). The Government consultation seeks submissions on expanding any unfair trading practices prohibitions to the financial services sector. This consultation will close on 10 July 2026.

Compliance ready?

The UTP regime aligns with the ACCC’s 2026-27 enforcement priority on manipulative and false practices in digital markets. There is likely to be heightened scrutiny for timely and adequate compliance as affected businesses will have a year to prepare before the laws come into effect.

At a minimum, the new requirements and prohibitions will require businesses that deal with consumers and small businesses to:

• review and amend their compliance programs, customer platforms and interfaces, customer onboarding processes, and selling and marketing practices more broadly; and
• prepare the relevant disclosures on their payment interfaces, IT systems and customer-facing materials.

Key takeaways

• Changes come into effect 1 July 2027. Affected businesses should start taking steps to comply with the new regime.
• The general UTP protections do not apply to small businesses and the UTP regime does not extend to financial products and services at this time. The Government is engaged in an open consultation to consider the need for further reform.

Image credit: ‘Large interior view of Plaza Singapura Shopping mall Orchard Road Singapore’ by Basile Morin / Licensed under CC BY 4.0 / Remixed to B&W, cropped and resized.