Australian Consumer Law (ACL) is a body of law that governs issues that is related to any method of retail. It is set in place to protect the welfare of the consumer and the manufacturer, done so through the use of contracts (both oral and written) and other means of lawful actions. Compliance is the following and meeting of rules and/or standards. Compliance can been seen throughout the marketing industry whenever there are no difficulties or complications in the industry. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) is an act set in place to encourage fair and efficient competition within markets and to deliver protection for consumers. Contracts, clauses, negligence, marketing regulation and occupational licensing each fall under Australian Consumer Law and its branches.
Non-compliance is the opposite of compliance. It is rejection or failure to comply, hence, non-compliance occurs when agreements, such as contracts, are broken or not complied with. Although many of these arrangements are usually carried out without problems, there are those which the specific agreements are not met, intentionally or unintentionally, which is in breach of the consumer law. When non-compliance occurs, the suffering party can begin taking action against the non-compliant party. Criminal prosecution for breaches of the law is only a single action of a range of methods regulators may take to ensure compliance with the law. Other actions and strategies include:
• education, guidance and influencing good practice
• voluntary industry self-regulation codes
• ‘without prejudice’ negotiations
• dispute resolution
• formal written warnings
• infringement warnings
• enforceable actions
• public warnings
• court orders
• injunctions
• compensation orders
• civil consequences, containing pecuniary punishments and disqualification orders.
For example, Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co (1893) was a case presented in an English Court room. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co