> About OCBA  > Compliance and enforcement  > Compliance strategies

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• Education
• Monitoring
• Self-regulation and Co-regulation
• Co-operating with Others

OCBA uses the following strategies to assist in securing compliance with the relevant and appropriate standards:

Education

OCBA provides information and delivers educational programs and materials to consumers and traders. It is important that consumers know about their rights and how to exercise them. Similarly, businesses should be aware of their rights and obligations to each other and in dealings with their customers.

Special measures are taken to ensure that new legislation and trading standards are properly introduced to the business community bound by them. Similarly, where trading standards have not been the subject of OCBA's compliance monitoring or other activity for a long time, education about legal obligations will normally be the first response.

Monitoring

OCBA initiates proactive checks and responds to reports from consumers, competitors, industry associations and other agencies about alleged breaches of the legislation OCBA administers.

Effective compliance with the law cannot be gauged by relying only on reports of alleged contraventions. Many consumers are not able to detect contravention of the relevant law or standards. They are therefore unable to report them.

Checking compliance with trading standards set out in weights and measures legislation, and the many information and safety standards set out in the trade standards legislation, is an important part of OCBA's compliance work. Compliance work in these areas requires technical knowledge and testing.

Self-regulation and Co-regulation

OCBA is committed to co-operative working relations with representative industry organisations and individual traders aimed at improving industry trading standards and overall compliance.

Individual trader and industry-wide compliance programs are important parts of self-regulation. OCBA encourages such programs and will also work with industry to make codes of conduct and practice that establish high standards.

Industry agreements, whereby some of the Commissioner's functions are formally delegated to industry bodies, may be pursued in appropriate cases in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Many provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1987, are self-enforcing, in that businesses who contravene them are liable to private civil actions by competitors. Whenever appropriate, this possibility will be drawn to the attention of the business community.

Although OCBA will normally not play a part in these suits, it will consider exercising it's right to intervene where to do so would be in the public interest.

Co-operating with Others

Under section 9 of the Fair Trading Act 1987, the Commissioner has a specific legislative mandate to co-operate with other public and private bodies and agencies in the interests of consumers.

Where legislatively sanctioned, and bearing in mind the secrecy provisions contained in section 11 of the Act, there is much to gain from an appropriate sharing of resources and information among agencies performing related work. Joint programs with other agencies, or co-ordinated action building on the strengths of different agencies, will be pursued.

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