The ACCC has announced the eight product categories it will scrutinise under Australia's supermarkets excessive pricing prohibition, the regulator said in a statement, with the initial focus on monitoring retail margins. The categories selected are potatoes, limes, bone-in chicken, unflavoured fresh milk, bread rolls, blocks and snack bar chocolate, coffee, and kitchen sponges and scourers. Together they cover more than 1000 individual items stocked across Coles and Woolworths.
The prohibition requires the ACCC to assess whether a grocery product's price is significantly excessive relative to the retailer's cost of supply plus a reasonable margin, with no fixed threshold for what constitutes an excessive price. The regulator published its compliance and enforcement guidelines for the excessive pricing prohibition in June this year. The law operates by amending the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, which The Nightly describes as the first such law in the world aimed at protecting shoppers from suspected price-gouging.
ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said a product appearing on the focus list does not mean the regulator currently believes supermarkets are charging unreasonable margins on it, but rather that its pricing deserves closer examination. Keogh said the ACCC's compliance monitoring goes beyond the announced focus products, with margin and pricing data being collected and analysed for all grocery lines at Coles and Woolworths alongside consumer and supplier reports. The work matters to Australian consumers who are very conscious of price rises when they shop at supermarkets, he said.
The ACCC said its initial priority under the new laws will be monitoring compliance rather than taking enforcement action, while noting it may pursue enforcement if circumstances warrant it. Additional focus product groups will be announced next year, with monitoring extending to all grocery products at Coles and Woolworths, not only the announced categories. The first monitoring report, covering focus product prices, costs and margins, will be published in early 2027 and will draw on data from before the prohibition started to establish a baseline for future monitoring.
Australian shoppers buying any of the eight nominated product categories at Coles or Woolworths may see the prices and margins on those items scrutinised by the ACCC, with consumers and suppliers able to submit information to assist its monitoring. Supermarkets found to have breached the excessive pricing prohibition face the prospect of significant financial penalties under the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct.
Official statements: ACCC
Reporting: The Nightly
Written by Pick & Scroll News from the reporting and documents linked above.
