Australia’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has outlined its key compliance and enforcement priorities for the 2026-27 financial year, with a focus on manipulative conduct in the digital economy, pricing claims and strengthening competition in essential services.

The regulator’s plan reflects persistent concerns from consumers and businesses about misleading practices, market trust, and anti-competitive behaviour.

Clearer pricing claims in retail and essential services

The ACCC will continue to prioritise pricing transparency and accuracy across supermarket, retail and essential service markets, especially in sectors under cost-of-living pressure. The regulator has highlighted that misleading discount claims and unclear pricing information can harm consumer confidence and distort competition.

Its work will focus on areas where complex pricing structures make comparison difficult, such as energy, telecommunications, electricity and gas services.

Accurate pricing information remains central to effective competition, the ACCC says, and practices that mislead consumers or put compliant businesses at a disadvantage will attract scrutiny.

This includes a renewed emphasis on addressing misleading pricing claims and ensuring that essential services pricing does not hinder small business and consumer choice.

Targeting manipulative online practices

A significant part of the ACCC’s agenda is tackling manipulative conduct in the digital economy. This covers online techniques that influence consumer behaviour in unfair or deceptive ways, including so-called “dark patterns” and subscription traps that lock consumers into unwanted services.

The regulator also flagged concerns about the rise of unsafe consumer goods sold via digital marketplaces.

By prioritising enforcement in these areas, the ACCC aims to strengthen consumer trust in online platforms and digital commerce, as these markets continue to grow and evolve.

Competition enforcement and business compliance

Beyond pricing and digital issues, the ACCC will maintain focus on longstanding competition priorities. These include addressing cartel and other collusive behaviour, exclusionary practices, anti-competitive agreements, and the misuse of market power.

The agency also plans to step up business compliance efforts in light of recent government reforms affecting consumer guarantees, merger procedures and unfair trading practices.

As part of this, the ACCC intends to engage with businesses to improve understanding and application of the law under new regulatory frameworks.

The announcement underscores the ACCC’s commitment to shaping market behaviour that supports both competitive markets and consumer confidence, reflecting broader economic conditions and evolving digital commercial activity.