Starts 1 July 2027/C2026A00064/Read from the authorised Act/Not legal advice; does not certify
Competition and Consumer CheckerThe Act, section by section
Section 28B(6)Scope or machinery

Four examples of unfair trading conduct

The Act lists four examples without limiting the test: impeding a consumer from exercising legal rights or seeking a remedy; failing to disclose material information; disclosing it in a complex, unclear, ambiguous, untimely or overwhelming way; and using design, including digital interface design, to pressure or obstruct a decision.

Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Act 2026, Schedule 1, Part 1, item 7, section 28B(6)Starts 1 July 2027Part 1: unfair trading practices
The requirement

Treat the four examples as a review checklist, not a closed list. They show the kind of conduct the test is aimed at, and the Act says they do not limit subsection (2).

Who it binds. Any supplier assessing a consumer journey, a complaint route, a disclosure or an interface.

Operative term. failing to disclose material information

What this means in practice

The examples are useful because they name the ordinary work of a product team. A complaints button that disappears after the first screen impedes a remedy. A fee that appears only at payment is a failure to disclose material information. Terms that are technically complete but unreadable are the third example. A cancelling flow that asks the consumer to call during office hours, or a pre-ticked consent, is the fourth. The list is not a safe harbour: conduct outside the four examples can still meet the two-limb test. Use the examples to train the team, then test the whole journey against the definition.

How to test it

Walk the journey as a consumer with a problem, not as a buyer. Can the consumer find the complaint route, the terms and the price without a search? Is the material information shown before the commitment, in plain words, at the point where it matters? Can the consumer decline, cancel or complain without a call or a queue? Record a pass or a fail for each example and attach the screenshot. A fail is a candidate for the general test, not automatically a contravention.

Evidence to keep

The Act does not prescribe these records. They are the artefacts our reading says a regulator or auditor may ask for; keep the ones that fit your business and the provision.

  • Journey auditA screen-by-screen pass or fail against the four examples, dated and owned.
  • Disclosure inventoryThe material facts for each product, where they are shown, and the date the wording was approved.
  • Complaint route testA test that the complaint and remedy route is reachable without a login or a call.
  • Interface reviewThe design review that names pressure, urgency and obstruction and removes them.
  • Training recordThe session that taught the four examples to product, marketing and customer service staff.

What to do first

  1. Run the four-example audit on the highest-volume consumer journey first.
  2. Put the material facts in one approved disclosure inventory, with an owner for each.
  3. Test the complaint route with a mystery consumer and keep the recording.

Questions

Is the list exhaustive?
No. The Act says the examples are without limiting subsection (2), so conduct that is not listed can still be an unfair trading practice if both limbs are met.
Does a dark pattern always breach the ban?
Not automatically. A design element is evidence of pressure or obstruction, but the regulator or court still has to find manipulation or unreasonable distortion and detriment.

Related sections

s 28B(1): The bans 28B(2): The tests 48D(2): Offer disclosure