Section 114 Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018

Section 114 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018 is about Right to information in plain and understandable language. It is under Part XV (Consumers’ Rights) of the Act.

(1) The producer of a notice, document or visual representation that is required under this Act or any other law, to be produced, provided or displayed to a consumer must produce, provide or display that notice, document or visual representation –

(a) in the prescribed form, if any, for that notice, document or visual representation; or
(b) in plain language, if no form has been prescribed for that notice, document or visual representation.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a notice, document or visual representation is in plain language if it is reasonable to conclude that an ordinary consumer of the class of persons for whom the notice, document or visual representation is intended, with average literacy skills and minimal experience as a consumer of the relevant goods or services, could be expected to understand the content, significance, and import of the notice, document or visual representation without undue effort, having regard to –

(a) the context, comprehensiveness and consistency of the notice, document or visual representation;
(b) the organisation, form and style of the notice, document or visual representation;
(c) the vocabulary, usage and sentence structure of the notice, document or visual representation; and
(d) the use of any illustrations, examples, headings or other aids to reading and understanding.

(3) The Commission may publish guidelines on methods for assessing whether a notice, document or visual representation satisfies the requirements of subsections (1) and (2).