Should Australia Introduce a Prohibition on Unfair Trading? Responding to Exploitative Business Systems in Person and Online

J. M. Paterson () and E. Bant ()
Additional contact information
J. M. Paterson: The University of Melbourne
E. Bant: University of Western Australia

Journal of Consumer Policy, 2021, vol. 44, issue 1, No 1, 19 pages

Abstract: Abstract Australian consumer protection law contains broad and flexible prohibitions on misleading and unconscionable conduct in trade or commerce. Yet concerns have been raised that these prohibitions are unsuitable for responding to predatory business systems. These are businesses that, by design or operation, target consumers experiencing vulnerability to offer costly products ill-suited to their needs. This concern has arisen in response to prominent instances of products of dubious efficacy offered to marginalized communities. It has also arisen from concerns over the increasing potential for data-driven digital marketing to manipulate consumer choice by targeting with fine-grained accuracy consumer vulnerabilities. In response to these concerns, it has been suggested that the Australian Consumer Law should be reformed, by introducing a prohibition on “unfair trading” inspired by the general prohibitions on such conduct in the EU and USA. This paper explores the key considerations relevant in assessing the merits of this proposed statutory “transplant.” Ultimately, the paper is supportive of the proposed reform, while also recognizing its limits.

Keywords: Unfair commercial practices; Unfair trading; Unconscionable conduct; Unfair business systems; Disadvantaged communities; Digital manipulation; Regulatory design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10603-020-09467-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jcopol:v:44:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10603-020-09467-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... es/journal/10603/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10603-020-09467-9

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Consumer Policy is currently edited by Hans Micklitz, John Thøgersen, Lucia A. Reisch, Alan Mathios and Christian Twigg-Flesner

More articles in Journal of Consumer Policy from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().