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The latest issue of the Australian Journal of Competition and Consumer Law (Volume 31 Part 4) contains the following material:

EDITORIAL

  • Botox and the ACL – A Jurisprudential Makeover

Articles

Financial Hardship and Complaints-Handling in the Buy Now Pay Later Industry: A Recent Empirical Study – Lucinda O’Brien, Daniel Beratis, Ian Ramsay and Paul Ali

Buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) services are increasingly popular in Australia, with almost seven million accounts active in 2022. The BNPL industry maintains that its voluntary Code of Practice contains strong safeguards to ensure that consumers do not suffer hardship as a consequence of using BNPL services. By contrast, consumer advocates argue that BNPL causes harm, by encouraging consumers to become overcommitted. They contend that BNPL providers do not do enough to assist consumers in hardship or to address complaints effectively. This article outlines a desktop empirical study conducted by the authors, examining the industry’s Code and the policies of eight BNPL providers. It finds that while the Code imposes substantial obligations on the industry, with respect to hardship and complaints, there is little evidence that these are met in practice. It concludes that regulated, transparent and enforceable minimum standards would reduce the risk of harm to consumers.

The Race to Regulate Big Tech – Lessons from Germany – Sabrina Frank and Malte Frank

While Australia has only recently joined the contest between regulators to create innovative competition tools to cope with the challenges of digital markets and big tech, Germany is assembling a first set of decisions under its new rules, the famous s 19a. The article describes the first cases and decisions conducted and taken by the German competition regulator and analyses the challenges and legal risks of this innovative tool against the background of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s regulatory proposals.

DEFECTIVE GOODS – Editor: THJ Cadd

  • Marble Tiles Cause Angst and Second-Hand Car Insurance Warranties Lacking Specificity – THJ Cadd

CASE NOTE – Editor: Christopher Hodgekiss SC

  • Full Federal Court’s Third Way on Damages Estimation: Toyota Motor Corp Australia Ltd v Williams (2023) 296 FCR 514; [2023] FCAFC 50 – Chris Whelan and Theresa Li

COUNCIL CONSIDERATIONS

  • The Council’s Work During 2022–2023 – Luke McMahon

COMMISSION CAMEOS

  • ACCC/Qantas – Hank Spier

CONSUMER CONCERNS

  • Making NBN’s Monopoly Broadband Work for All Australians – Audrey Reoch

ECONOMIC(S) MATTERS

  • The Economics of Acting in Good Faith: Lessons from the Mercedes Benz Dealers’ Case – Alex Sundakov

REPORT FROM CENTRAL ASIA – Editor: Evgeny Khokhlov

  • New Competition Law in Uzbekistan – Evgeny Khokhlov and Anna Zabolotnykh

REPORT FROM CHINA – Editor: Wayne Leach

  • New Chinese Intellectual Property Rights Provisions: More Evolution than Revolution – Wayne Leach, Nicola Jackson, Margaret Cai and Gauri Prabhakar

REPORT FROM INDIA – Editors: Pravin Anand and Vaishali Mittal

  • Major Developments in Competition Law in 2022– 2023 – Siddhant Chamola and Ashutosh Upadhyaya

BENCHMARKS

For the PDF version of the table of contents, click here: New Westlaw Australia – AJCCL Vol 31 No 4 Contents.

Click here to access this Part on New Westlaw AU

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