Can I defend an ACCC claim about products I bought to resell?

The primary defence is in Schedule 2, section 252 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (ACL). It applies where the ACCC alleges a contravention arising from supplying consumer goods that did not comply with a safety standard or that were supplied without compliance with an information standard. [cite:au-competition-consumer-2010-sch2-sec252] You must prove that the goods were acquired for the purpose of re-supply, that they were acquired from a person carrying on an Australian business of supplying such goods otherwise than as an agent of a person outside Australia, and either that you did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained the relevant non-compliance, or that you relied in good faith on a representation by the supplier that no relevant safety or information standard applied. [cite:au-competition-consumer-2010-sch2-sec252] The reference to “re-supply” includes supplying the goods in an altered form or condition and supplying goods in which they have been incorporated. [cite:au-competition-consumer-2010-sch2-sec11] The wholesaler’s written or oral statement can therefore support the good-faith-reliance limb, provided you genuinely relied on it and the statement was a representation of the relevant kind. The defence is not automatic: the ACCC may dispute that you relied on it in good faith, that the statement was made by the required supplier, or that the other statutory elements are satisfied. Your own reasonable checks may also support the alternative limb if they show that you could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained the non-compliance. [cite:au-competition-consumer-2010-sch2-sec252] The identification notice is an additional condition. Unless the court gives leave, you must serve on the person instituting the proceeding a written notice identifying the person from whom you acquired the goods no later than seven days before the hearing commences. Consequently, identifying the wholesaler in writing before the hearing may satisfy that requirement if it is served on the ACCC within the prescribed time, but it does not replace proof of the substantive defence. [cite:au-competition-consumer-2010-sch2-sec252] The underlying prohibitions remain relevant: a person must not supply consumer goods of a kind subject to a safety standard where the goods do not comply with that standard, or offer for supply goods whose supply is prohibited. [cite:au-competition-consumer-2010-sch2-sec106] For comparable prosecutions concerning goods supplied for re-supply, section 210 contains a parallel defence for safety-standard and information-standard contraventions and imposes the same leave-or-written-notice condition. [cite:au-competition-consumer-2010-sch2-sec210]