The ACCC has power to:

• accept court enforceable undertakings where it believes there has been a breach of the CCA and the party in question agrees to give the undertaking (s 87B of the CCA); and

• bring proceedings seeking penalties and other orders, including non-punitive orders for breaches of the CCA.

The remedies and types of orders the ACCC can seek and obtain in proceedings commenced by it for breach of the anti-competitive conduct provisions of the CCA include:

• civil pecuniary penalties — the maximum penalties are $10 million for corporations and $500,000 for individuals;

• disqualification orders — orders disqualifying a person from managing corporations as a result of breach of the anti-competitive conduct provisions found in Pt IV of the CCA and the cartel conduct provisions in ss 44ZZRF and 44ZZRG of the CCA, in the event of prosecution or civil penalty proceedings being brought by the ACCC;

• declarations;

• injunctions;

• compensation orders (on behalf of injured persons and non-party consumers who have suffered loss and damage by conduct in breach of the anti-competitive conduct provisions of Pt IV of the CCA); and

• other non-punitive orders such as orders for corrective advertising, community service and implementation of compliance programs.

The ACCC has no power to bring criminal proceedings for breach of the anti-competitive conduct provisions of Pt IV of the CCA: s 78 . Criminal proceedings for breach of the cartel conduct provisions in ss 44ZZRF and 44ZZRG can only be initiated by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

See Regulation and enforcement.

The ACCC has power to obtain documents, information and evidence and to enter premises and seize documents under s 155 and Pt XID respectively of the CCA.

These powers are used extensively by the ACCC, the threshold for their exercise being that the Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson of the ACCC has reason to believe that a person has information about a suspected breach of the CCA or, in the case of search warrants under Pt XID , has reasonable grounds for suspecting there may be evidential material on the premises. The powers are intrusive, usually time consuming and expensive for the recipient to comply with and heavily weighted in favour of the ACCC.

See Investigative powers.

When dealing with the ACCC in the exercise of its investigative and enforcement powers it is important to bear in mind that:

• the powers of the ACCC frequently extend beyond that which would otherwise be available to a non-regulator and certain objections to the use of those powers may not be available;

• it is an offence to provide false or misleading information to the ACCC;

• in determining whether or not to pursue an investigation or proceedings the ACCC will have regard to its Compliance and Enforcement Policy, available on the ACCC website;

• the ACCC has an Immunity & Cooperation Policy, available on the ACCC website, which encourages cartel participants to come forward and “blow the whistle” on cartels in exchange for immunity from prosecution; and

• the ACCC has a Cooperation Policy, a copy of which can be found on the ACCC website, which encourages cooperation where there has been a breach of the CCA, including by providing for the seeking of reduced penalties for such breach.