ACCC reveals business do’s and don’ts for the carbon tax

4. Be careful talking to competitors

Be careful when talking to competitors, as businesses must determine carbon costs and prices independently from competitors.

Businesses must avoid discussions and, most importantly, agreements with competitors about the price impact of the carbon price.

“There is no problem looking at what your competitors are doing,” says Schaper.

“But it has always been illegal for two or more businesses to sit around the table and discuss pricing – that is price fixing.”

5. Wait until July 1 to adjust prices

Schaper says the impact of the carbon tax is difficult to calculate, so it may be “easiest” for businesses to wait until July 1 to adjust prices.

“It is a bit different to the GST; when the GST came in the ACCC was given discrete powers to look at the impact and that was much more of a mathematical exercise,” says Schaper.

“This is different, as it is much harder to predict for individual firms what impact, if any, it has.”

Don’ts

1. Price lists which incorrectly link all price increases

The ACCC warns businesses should not incorrectly link all price increases to the carbon price on price lists.

For example, a hair salon displays a new price list on July 1, 2012 stating that all services will be subject to “an increase of 10% largely due to the carbon price,” when the salon is aware that a number of its input costs have gone up over the past three months.

2. Comments by sales representatives which incorrectly link all price increases

Comments by sales representatives that incorrectly link an increase in the price of goods or services to the carbon price are also illegal.

The ACCC says an example of this is a sales representative saying “It’s the carbon price” in response to a customer’s query about the increase in price, when that is not the case.

3. Contracts, arrangements or understandings with competitors on price

It continues to be illegal to enter into any contract, arrangement or understanding with other businesses relating to the price of the goods or services or any price adjustments including those attributable to a carbon price.

“In general, the competition act always had a prohibition on businesses colluding to fix prices. It flows from that, you can’t sit around and discuss and fix prices with competitors because of the carbon price,” says Schaper.