Unfair Trading Practices: New ACL Prohibitions Target Dark Patterns, Drip Pricing and Subscription Traps in Australia

On 2 July 2026, the Australian Parliament passed the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 without amendment. From 1 July 2027, the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) will prohibit unfair trading practices: conduct that manipulates a consumer, or unreasonably distorts the environment in which a consumer makes a decision, and causes or is likely to cause detriment. Alongside the general prohibition in new section 28B, the Act imposes specific disclosure duties for transaction-based charges (drip pricing) and a full lifecycle regime for subscription contracts.

For your company, the commercial stakes are high. The maximum penalty for a body corporate is the greater of $100 million, three times the benefit obtained, or 30 per cent of adjusted turnover during the breach period, applied per contravention. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) named subscription traps and other dark patterns among its 2026-27 enforcement priorities five months before the Bill passed. A checkout flow, countdown timer or cancellation path that is lawful today becomes penalisable conduct on 1 July 2027.