Ross Zaurrini is a partner in the competition and consumer protection group in the Sydney office. Ross has extensive experience in advising on competition and consumer law issues, with particular expertise in litigation and investigations involving the ACCC. He regularly advises both domestic and international clients, across various industries, on their rights and obligations under the Australian Competition and Consumer Act. In particular, Ross advises on commercial arrangements which may raise price fixing, misuse of market power or other anti-competitive conduct concerns. Ross also advises clients on seeking informal clearance from the ACCC for proposed transactions and collaborative arrangements and on compliance with the Australian Consumer Law.
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Misleading advertising and greenwashing, competition issues in supply chains, anti-competitive conduct in the financial services sector and exclusive dealing are all key issues the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") will be tackling in the coming financial year. Outgoing (...)
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The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions ("CDPP") has sensationally walked away from the highest profile criminal case in the financial services sector in recent memory after three and a half years of vigorous court battles. The prosecution’s case had been mired in allegations of (...)
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Nero Bathrooms International Pty Ltd (trading as Nero Tapware) ("Nero"), a national supplier of bathroom-ware products, admitted it likely engaged in resale price maintenance by withholding supply of its products from a retailer when that retailer refused to raise its advertised prices. Key (...)
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On 10 March 2021, Visa AP (Australia) Pty Ltd and Visa Worldwide Pte Limited (together, "Visa") entered into a court enforceable undertaking with the Australian Competition Consumer Commission ("ACCC"), seeking to address the ACCC’s concerns that Visa was leveraging its substantial market power (...)
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On 4 February 2021, the Federal Court of Australia ("Court") convicted Norwegian shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS ("WWO") of criminal cartel conduct, and imposed a fine of AUD $24 million. This is only the third sentence for criminal cartel conduct handed down in Australia since (...)
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On 8 October 2020, the Federal Court of Australia ordered iSelect Limited ("iSelect") to pay a pecuniary penalty of AUD 8.5 million for making false or misleading representations on its website when comparing and selling electricity plans, in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law (...)
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On 2 October 2020, the Federal Court of Australia ordered viagogo AG ("viagogo"), a Swiss-based company, to pay a pecuniary penalty of AUD 7 million for making false or misleading representations when reselling event tickets, in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law ("ACL"). The Court (...)
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On 10 September 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") decided to not oppose Mylan NV’s ("Mylan") proposed merger with Pfizer’s Upjohn Inc division ("Upjohn"), despite concerns that competition in the supply of pharmaceutical products to treat cardiovascular conditions (...)
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On 20 August 2020, HealthEngine Pty Ltd ("HealthEngine") was ordered by the Federal Court of Australia to pay a AUD 2.9 million civil penalty for contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law ("ACL") between 30 April 2014 and 30 June 2018 related to reviews, ratings, referrals and sharing (...)
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What you need to know In a rare Federal Court proceeding involving alleged misuse of market power, the Federal Court held that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) failed to establish that Ramsay Health Care (Ramsay) had in fact engaged in the anti-competitive conduct (...)
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What you need to know The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has achieved its first enforcement outcome for alleged anticompetitive concerted practices since the prohibition was introduced in November 2017. Two Sydney roofing companies acknowledged in Court-enforceable (...)
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What you need to know The Court imposed a penalty amount AUD 50 million higher than had been agreed between the parties, bucking the recent trend of the Court reducing penalties proposed by the ACCC. The AUD 125 million penalty was calculated under the old ACL penalty regime where the maximum (...)
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On 2 August 2019, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd ("K-Line") was ordered by the Federal Court of Australia to pay a $34.5 million fine for criminal cartel conduct occurring between July 2009 and September 2012. K-Line’s fine is the largest ever criminal penalty to be handed down for contraventions of (...)
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What you need to know This is the first prosecution under Australia’s criminal cartel provisions since their introduction in 2009. In a landmark decision, the global Japanese shipping company, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) has been fined A$25 million for its involvement in "deliberate, (...)
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In December 2016, the High Court published its decision in the ACCC’s proceedings against Flight Centre. In short, Flight Centre was found to have been “in competition” with the airlines for whom it was agent, in selling their fares. In this context, an attempt by Flight Centre to reach an (...)
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On 25 February 2015, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed proceedings brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) against Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd (Pfizer) alleging misuse of market power regarding its strategy in the lead up to the expiry of its patent over (...)
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