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Most breaches aren't villains. They're people who didn't know where the line was.
Competition and consumer law is written for courts, and it lands on commercial teams. A pricing conversation at a trade show, a wording choice on a promotion, a chat with a competitor about supply — the exposure sits with the people doing the everyday work, and almost none of them have been shown where the boundaries actually are.
WHY IT MATTERS
The cost of getting it wrong just doubled.
Maximum penalties for corporations rose in November 2022, and rose again for conduct from 28 March 2026. The ACCC also has far-reaching investigative powers — a Section 155 notice can compel emails, phone records, meeting notes and credit card statements. There is nowhere to hide.
$100m
Maximum penalty per contravention for a corporation — or three times the benefit obtained, or 30% of adjusted turnover over the breach period, whichever is greater
$2.5m
Maximum penalty for an individual. Personal liability is real, and it is not indemnified
10 years
Maximum imprisonment for criminal cartel conduct,
alongside director disqualification
Figures reflect the maximum penalties applying to conduct on or after 28 March 2026. Conduct before that date is assessed against the maximums in force at the time.
OUR POSITION
A commercial interpretation,
not legal advice.
FOUNDATION
We are not lawyers, and that is the point
Your legal team can tell you what the Act says. What they usually cannot do is sit with a national account manager and work through what it means when a buyer asks a particular question in a particular meeting.
This program gives a commercial interpretation of competition and consumer law in the context of Australian retailing practice — taught by people who have run the accounts, not by practitioners reading from the legislation. Where an issue needs legal advice, we say so and we say it clearly.
PART ONE
Competition
How the regulator defines a market, measures power, and judges outcome — then the conduct that gets businesses prosecuted.
Misuse of market power
What changed after the Harper Review, the shift to purpose and effect, and the tests a court applies.
Concerted practices
The conduct that catches people out — no agreement needed, and a conversation can be enough.
The commercial law landscape
Which laws apply to your role, and how the Competition and Consumer Act sits alongside the Grocery, Dairy, Horticulture and Franchising Codes.
Three lenses: market, power, outcome
Defining a market by geography, substitutability and barriers to entry — before anyone can judge your influence over it.
THE PROGRAM
Unconscionable conduct
Why words matter, the tests the courts apply, and what withholding supply can amount to.
Two parts, one day.
Part one covers competition — how the ACCC sees the market and what conduct crosses the line. Part two covers your obligations to the consumer, from pricing claims through to recalls.
Cartel conduct
Price fixing and resale price maintenance, sharing markets, rigging bids, and controlling output — the ACCC's standing enforcement priority.
Exclusive dealing
Full line forcing and third line forcing, and where ordinary commercial terms become a contravention.
Pricing conduct
Predatory pricing, recommended versus imposed retail price, minimum and maximum pricing, and promotional terms.
Recalls
Planning for a recall before you need one, and the lessons from businesses that didn't.
Selling safe products
Product safety obligations, and what compliance actually requires of a supplier.
Warranties and consumer guarantees
What the consumer is entitled to regardless of what your warranty says.
Advertising and social media
Where the same rules apply to a post, an influencer and a thirty-second spot.
Packaging and origin
Misleading packaging and country of origin claims — an area the ACCC actively pursues.
Misleading conduct
False or misleading product information, and what substantiation you need before you make a claim.
Price promotion
Limited offers, bait advertising, and where a promotion stops being a promotion.
PART TWO
Consumer Law
Your obligations as a supplier and a seller — what you tell consumers, that your product is safe, and what happens when something goes wrong.
Retail pricing
Component pricing, multiple pricing, comparative pricing and was/now claims. One rule underneath all of it: don't be deceptive, deliberately or by accident.
Knowledge assessment
A test at the end, so you can evidence who has been trained and that it landed.
Take-away handout
Resource references people keep at the desk, including where to check something themselves.
HOW IT'S TAUGHT
Built for the room, not the lecture theatre.
A plan, not just a warning.
Every principle is worked through in the situations your team actually meets — the buyer's question, the promotional claim, the conversation at a trade show — so people leave knowing what to do, not just what the section says.
Ongoing support
Call or email us afterwards with a competition law or Grocery Code question and get a commercial perspective.
IN-HOUSE
Run it at your site
per person
AFGC members $500 · Non-members $625
Delivered on site for your sales & marketing group, with the case studies chosen for your channel
E-LEARNING
Self-paced online
AFGC members $300 · Non-members $375
per person
The CCL course runs on the NextGen Learning Centre, with a knowledge test and certificate on completion
FORMATS AND INVESTMENT
Three ways to run the full course.
The full-day course comes four ways, so you can run it however suits your team. A shorter refresher is also available for teams who only need bringing current on the 2025 changes.
VIRTUAL IN-HOUSE
Live online
per person
AFGC members $500 · Non-members $625
The same content delivered live over video, split into shorter sessions across up to three weeks.
Know where the line is, before you cross it
NextGen Group are not lawyers and do not provide legal advice or legal services. This program provides a commercial interpretation of Australian competition and consumer law in the context of Australian retailing practice. If in doubt on a competition or consumer law issue, seek legal advice.
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