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Objectives of the Australian Consumer Law
Objectives of the Australian Consumer Law
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Consumer rights issue:
The current country of origin labelling laws are not providing adequate protection to consumers and their rights. Under the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) consumers are to be protected against being misled by country of origin labels. However the issues within this consumer right are not being sufficiently addressed by the Australian government. If approached correctly the Australian government may use strategic law reforms to solve this serious consumer rights issue. The role of the ACL (Australian Consumer Law) is to ensure that consumers are guaranteed products of reasonable quality. Consumers are entitled to assume that products are safe. Properly informing them on the country of origin of
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Consumers should be able to have sufficient knowledge of where abouts the seafood comes from. They may have multiple reasons as to why they want to know the country of origin, whether it be due to the safety of the food, the sustainability, the labour used to produce the food or even the mercury levels which may be in the fish.‘At restaurants, 70 per cent of the fish is imported, according to the Australian seafood industry 's submission’. Once the seafood is on the menu or served to someone the country of origin is disregarded and does not legally have to be shown. A consumer has a right to be educated on where the seafood comes. However this is not enough information as products could still be deemed as unsafe. The government has no specific reasoning for not providing the consumer with the country of origin. Giving a consumer this information is not difficult for businesses to do, it will not be costly and will help to provide the consumers with the information to which they are …show more content…
Australian country of origin labelling is already difficult for consumers to comprehend. The new reforms will not be effective if this issue is not addressed. If the new labels are difficult to understand it will only make it harder for consumers to support Australian farmers and make an informed decision on the goods. This will only be achieved if the new labels to be enforced are more understandable to consumers. The kangaroo and Australian flag logo which will be put on these new labels will be eye catching, simple and easy to comprehend. However the text which accompanies this logo will make it difficult for consumers to interpret. A consumer mentioned that ‘“..as a shopper, I spend a lot of time in the supermarket squinting at the fine print trying to work out what really is Australian-made or has the most Australian content.”’ The Australian government should consider removing the text from these new labels so this law reform is more successful and understandable. The text on these labels would only further confuse consumers. It would also make consumers question these products and their country of origin even more than before. The government should aim to inform consumers in the simplest way possible to ensure a clear understand with no chances of being
The role of law reform has responded rather effectively to a certain extent in protecting the rights of consumers. This is evident in the legal responses introduced to address issues of credit, marketing innovation and technology. These law amendments has effectively increase the protection of the rights of consumers to a certain extent, however loopholes still exist. Due to the increasing range of goods and services continues to grow and the failure of existing laws, the role of law reform has been significant in protecting the rights of consumers. Consumer laws were created to prevent deceitful activities, or unfair business practices, as well as serving a protection for weaker parties who are unable to protect themselves. However, laws were later reformed to enable customers to transact with confidence and protect suppliers, consumers from inappropriate business conduct and to reflect changed community values and circumstances.
This essay will examine key aspects of the recent implementation of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) 2011, which is the largest overhaul in Consumer Law in Australia in the past twenty five years. The ACL replaces 20 existing State and Territory laws into one national law , the legislation was enacted in two main parts as Schedule 2 of the renamed Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA) - Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA) . Aforementioned this essay it will outline the key benefits of the implementation of the act. Furthermore it will critique the Act, whilst exploring the objectives of the legislation.
Characteristics of our society reflect in the outcome of purchasing tendencies. How many of us can honestly say we make a valid effort to purchase goods made in our own country? In our face paced world where both parents are in the work force, raising children, social activities and everything else, who has time to make an effort? Most often, consumers only care about marking off the s...
The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) was established to protect consumers in any legal trading activities in Australia. A set of guarantees has also been introduced for those consumers who are acquiring goods and services from Australian suppliers, importers or manufacturers. The guarantees are intended to ensure that consumers will receive the goods or services they have paid for. If they have problems with the products and services they bought, they are entitled for remedies, such as repair, replacement, and refund.
While conducting my research, I found it pretty alarming that allergy labeling on products wasn’t mandated by the government until ten years ago. If allergens were not required to be clearly labeled on the products we consume, people with nut or gluten allergies for example, would have extreme difficulty in purchasing food products. Studies show that around 30,000 people require emergency room care in the United States due to allergy related incidents and around 150 deaths occur as a result of allergic reactions to food, in addition, approximately 2% of adults in the US and 5% of children have food allergies. Judging by these allergy demographics, it’s safe to assume that if allergen labeling was not mandated for consumer products, we’d see a tremendous amount of hospital treatment and deaths in the US and all over the world.
Canada’s food labelling practices are very much a work-in-progress. Labelling itself is a very important issue as it affects both product sales for companies and personal health for consumers, especially since most Canadian consumers learn about nutrition from food labels themselves (Nguyen) and are especially inclined to trust labels (Gruère, Carter and Farzin). Through labelling law, government is also able to impose food standards on products. An extensive set of rules to govern every possible category of food product is used and adhered to in the food inspection process. Food labelling itself is mainly tied to issues of health and safety and consumer rights, but has also recently been involved in trade relations (which will not be discussed), as is the case with US-Canada labelling laws.
A non-GMO label doesn’t necessarily mean “healthy”. White sugar, flour, and processed ingredients if not genetically modified are considered non GMO. Recently Cheerios made their ingredients GMO free. This label made Cheerios seems as a “healthy conscience choice” when in fact they are not healthy at all. The truth is that this breakfast cereal is highly processed and is best to be avoided despite the “healthy halo” of being approved by the National Heart Association and GMO free. The truth appears on the nutrition label and the ingredients (Wartman). “If you can’t pronounce it, don’t buy it” The voluntary labeling places a burden on the consumer. The average Americans are forced to navigate confusing and cluttered food landscape” (Wartman). A mandatory labeling law is vital to give clear and concise information to citizens.
With commercial dealings on the rise in Australia and globally, so too are the complications. If some sort of codification is not established and built from the principals that already exist, commercial opportunities could be in jeopardy due to the uncertainty and risk of not having a clear outline or set of laws to cover contracts generally.
Food labeling can be misleading and confusing as you can see. Manufactures should put a stop to this and simplify and makeover, there labels for us consumers. I think it will help buyers understand what they're eating and trust the manufactures on what they're making for us. If more consumers find out what’s really in the food they’re eating and how food labels are not always exact they will stop buying their food. What’s the point of putting information labels if it’s not the truth. I hope Manufactures make a change in this and make it easy for us to understand and let us trust the labels more.
In Lee Ann Fisher Baron’s “Junk Science,” she claims that the “food industry with the help of federal regulators” sometimes use “[a science that] bypasses [the] system of peer review. Presented directly to the public by…‘experts’ or ‘activists,’ often with little or no supporting evidence, this ‘junk science’ undermines the ability…[for] everyday consumers to make rational decisions” (921). Yet Americans still have a lot of faith in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 65% of Americans are “very favorable” or “mostly favorable” of the FDA. When it comes to what people put in their bodies, the FDA has a moral obligation to be truthful and transparent. The bottom line of the FDA’s myriad of responsibilities is to help protect the health of Americans. Deciding what to eat is a critical part of living healthily, and consumers must be able to trust that this massive government agency is informing them properly of the contents of food. While the FDA does an excellent job in many areas, it has flaws in other areas. One of its flaws is allowing the food industry to print food labels that are deceptive, unclear, or simply not true (known as misbranding). This is quite the hot topic because a Google search for “Should I trust food labels” returns well over 20 million results, many of which are blog posts from online writers begging their readers not to trust food labels. HowStuffWorks, a division of Discovery Communications, published an online article whose author claims that “[the food industry] will put what they want on labels. They know the game….” While the food industry is partially at blame for misbranding, the FDA is allowing it to happen. If a mother tells her children that it is oka...
A food label is a source of advertising a food product. Manufacturers try their best to make their product food label as attractive as possible, by using bright colours, bold text, food claims, and a lot of information. Too much information on a food label might have caused a lot of painful headaches for consumers; but it's all worth it, due to many health and nutrition problems. By law, manufacturers must abide by the standard code terms of what is put on their food label. By this, a food label must have no false claims or information, be in English and legible and easy to see. Also must contain a barcode, name of food, list of ingredients in descending order of weight, net weight, any additives in the food, country of origin, use of imported ingredients, name and address of manufacturer, date marking and nutrition panel if any claims are made.
1.1 Explain the value of customer service as a competitive tool Customer service is valued as a competitive tool by many organisations. It gives you the ability to gain customer loyalty while meeting the customer’s expectations. Staff will have the skills and knowledge that will provide a competitive edge. Most organisations are known for the quality of their customer service. This means that they are known for good customer service or poor customer service.
Marketing is a system of business activates designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want-satisfying products, services and ideas to customers in order to achieve business objectives. Consumer law protects consumer’s rights in the marketplace as well as fair trading, competition and accurate information. On the other hand, ethical aspects of marketing are about making marketing decisions that are morally right. However, consumer law and ethical aspects of marketing have a lot of advantages and disadvantages in the marketplace, which impacts business 's sales and growth like it happened to: Harvey Norman, Nurofen, apple, etc.
Kidane, H. 2005, "Australian Export of Food Products with Special Reference to Processed Food: Challenging Issues and Prospects", The Business Review, Cambridge, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 35-45, Proquest Database, <http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.students.angliss.vic.edu.au/business/docview/197308553/F51762BBA05845F7PQ/3?accountid=49749>
 United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Rights- 8 basic consumer rights that as consumers we are entitled to