Submission to the Inquiry into Impacts on Local Businesses in Australia from Global Internet-Based Competition

Abstract

On 25 October 2017, the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources of the Australian Parliament was asked to inquire into, and report on, the impacts on local businesses in Australia from global internet-based competition.

This document is a submission to that inquiry. It proposes that businesses trading in physical goods and those trading in equivalent digital products should be subject to the same legal obligations, with respect to the Australian Consumer Law and the State and Territory sale of goods Acts. It specifically proposes that digital products should be added to the definitions of goods contained in those regimes, so that their consumer guarantees and implied terms will unambiguously apply to the supply of digital products.