The Australian Government is considering feedback receiving during consultation about its proposed ban on subscription traps and other unfair trading practices.
Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said people may be thinking about signing up to gymnasiums, meal kits or wellness apps as they put new year’s resolutions into practice.
He said although it should be as easy to cancel subscriptions or memberships as sign up, “dodgy practices” making it almost impossible to unsubscribe had increased.
The Government last year announced it would legislate a general prohibition on unfair trading practices and a ban on specific practices including subscription traps.
“Consultation closed in December, and the Government is working through stakeholder feedback, but nothing is stopping businesses stamping out this tricky tactic now,” Jones said in a media release.
“We want people to be alert to these dodgy practices, but more importantly we want businesses to stamp it out altogether.
“We plan to introduce legislation that will impose penalties on businesses who choose to continue trying to rip off Australians.”
The legislation will also ban:
- dynamic pricing, where the price of a product increases during the transaction process as more people attempt to make a purchase, particularly when purchasing concert tickets, and
- drip pricing: common on flight or hotel bookings where the advertised cost goes up and up when purchasing the product with mandatory fees added.
