Smart Business Bulletin July 2021

Welcome to the July 2021 edition of the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Smart Business Bulletin, linking Queensland businesses with fair trading information and tips.

Features

• Brisbane’s latest expo births useful tips for traders
• Is your business using current forms?
• Watch out for false billing scams this tax time
• What you need to know about the latest penalty unit increase
• Check In Qld app rolling out to more businesses
• Countdown on to mandatory standards for button batteries
• Australian Consumer Law redefines ‘consumer’ up to $100k
• Have a say on the latest Right to Repair draft report

Brisbane’s latest expo births useful tips for traders

OFT officers were out in force at the Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expo in Brisbane last month offering tips and advice to traders.

Our Consumer Product Safety Unit spoke to more than 1,100 people – a mix of traders and consumers – over the two-day event.

Traders were keen to hear about the various safety publications they can order for free from OFT including the Think Safety First brochure series which offers safety tips for cots, prams and strollers, children’s toys and more, as well as the Carry with Care baby sling poster and flyer.

Check out the full range of product safety resources for your customers and your business which you can order online or by emailing OFTpublications@justice.qld.gov.au

Contact details for product warranty complaints, product misrepresentations complaints and product safety presentations were also hot topics for traders at the event.

Got a specific question about product safety in your industry? Get in touch with OFT’s Consumer Product Safety Unit at OFT.Safety@justice.qld.gov.au

Is your business using current forms?

Updated forms and fee information for OFT-regulated industries are now available online, following our annual forms review.

You are required by law to use current, valid forms for your business, so be sure to check any forms you are using are still current.

Access the latest forms and fee information for your industry below:

• Auction industry
• Debt collecting and process serving industry
• Inbound tour operators working in Queensland
• Property industry
• Motor industry
• Second-hand dealing and pawnbroking industry
• Security industry
• Tattoo industry

Watch out for false billing scams this tax time

Businesses are increasingly finding themselves the target of scams, with losses reported by Australian businesses increasing by 260 per cent in 2020 to $18 million, with most reports coming from micro and small businesses.

As we head into peak tax time – a period when scammers are out in droves – we are taking a closer look at one of the most common scams impacting Queensland businesses: false billing scams.

These scams typically involve a request for payment for a service or item that wasn’t ordered or a scammer diverting money by impersonating the intended recipient of a payment.

Protect your business from false billing scams by looking out for these warning signs from Scamwatch:

• You receive an invoice or phone call from a business directory or other publication you’ve never heard of, ‘confirming’ your entry or advertisement. You recognise the listing as one you put in a different publication.
• The caller claims that the government requires you to be listed in their register.
• You receive a letter or an invoice requesting payment for a domain registration or renewal. The renewal fee may be much higher than usual or be registered with a different company. The domain name may be very similar to your actual domain name with a different ending.
• You receive an invoice for goods or services you did not order or a call from somebody claiming to be your regular supplier, offering goods that you have ordered before.
• One of your employees might be offered a free gift by someone you’ve never heard of; the gift may arrive with other goods that your employee did not order.

If you become aware of a scam, or you've been scammed, let other people and your industry association know about it.

Report scams to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) via the report a scam page.

What you need to know about the latest penalty unit increase

Higher fines are now in force following the penalty unit increase on 1 July 2021.

The value of a penalty unit is now $137.85 – up from $133.45 – for most offences under state and local laws.

That includes OFT-administered laws for businesses and industries.

Under the penalty unit system, a fine is determined by multiplying the value of a penalty unit by the number of penalty units set for the offence.

For example, a penalty infringement notice that prescribes 100 penalty units will now result in a $13,785 fine.

More information about the penalty unit increase is available online.

Small businesses benefit after ACL redefines ‘consumer’

The start of the new financial year brought significant changes to consumer protections under Australian Consumer Law (ACL) with small businesses reaping the benefits.

Under the changes that took effect on 1 July 2021, the monetary threshold for the definition of a ‘consumer’ has increased from $40,000 to $100,000.

The changes effectively mean more individuals and businesses can rely on protections under ACL including consumer guarantees when purchasing goods and services.

It comes after the ACL Review identified that the level of protection afforded to consumers including small businesses – which sat at $40,000 since 1986 – had been reduced due to inflation in the cost of goods and services over time.

That decline in the real value of the threshold meant that certain purchases once covered under the ACL were no longer covered.

By increasing the monetary threshold in the ‘consumer’ definition to $100,000 the level of coverage for certain purchases made by businesses has been restored, assuring minimum standards of protection for the goods and services purchased by business consumers.

This does not apply to goods and services that you resupply or that you use up or transform.

Read the explanatory statement regarding the changes or find out more about consumer guarantees on our website.

Check In Qld app rolling out to more businesses

From 1am, Friday 9 July, the Check In Qld app will be mandatory for more businesses across the state to use to check-in customers and collect their details electronically.

Countdown on to mandatory standards for button batteries

The countdown is on for businesses supplying button batteries or consumer goods containing button batteries to comply with new national standards.

Introduced in December 2020, the new standards will be enforced from 22 June 2022, giving you time to adjust to the new requirements.

With less than 12 months left to transition to the new mandatory standards, you are being encouraged to sell through existing stock, make any manufacturing and design changes, change product line up, and undertake any testing necessary to ensure compliance with the standards.

Importantly, you should make sure that any buying arrangements you enter into now will get you compliant in the future, as selling any non-compliant stock on or after 22 June 2022 may result in penalties.

To help you better understand the changes, the ACCC has recently released A Guide for Businesses on the Application of Mandatory Standards.

The new guide will help you understand the requirements for secure battery compartments, child resistant packaging, and warnings and information.

In Australia, one child a month is seriously injured after swallowing or inserting a button battery, with some of them sustaining serious, lifelong injuries.

The sooner you start using these standards, the sooner you’ll reduce the risk of injury to children.

Find out more on the Product Safety Australia website.

Have a say on the latest Right to Repair draft report

Now is your opportunity to have a say on Right to Repair in Australia with the Productivity Commission calling for feedback following the release of its draft report on the matter last month.

The draft report assesses the case for a right to repair in Australia, with a focus on whether consumers face any unnecessary barriers to repair that require a government policy response.

It is part of the commission’s inquiry into consumers’ ability to repair faulty goods and to access repair services at a competitive price.

More information on how to provide a submission is available here on the commission’s website.

The final report will be prepared after further submissions have been received and will be submitted to the Australian Government by 29 October 2021.

What’s in the news?

Visit our website for the latest news and media statements.

Follow us on

www.qld.gov.au/fairtrading

fairtradingqld

@fairtradingqld

fairtradingqld

Feedback

Did you find Smart Business Bulletin useful? Tell us what you think by emailing us.