News & Articles
Articles | March 2025
The new Scams Prevention Framework
By: Rosemary Kanan
New Scams Prevention Framework Enshrined in Law
Federal Parliament has passed legislation establishing a Scams Prevention Framework (SPF) under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), marking a significant step forward in combating scams across key sectors.
Key Points at a Glance:
- Six Core Principles: The framework is built around governance, prevention, detection, reporting, disruption, and response.
- Targeted Sectors: Initially applies to the banking, telecommunications, and digital platform industries.s
- Shared Oversight: Regulatory responsibility will be shared among the ACCC (general oversight and digital platforms), ASIC (banking), and ACMA (telecommunications).
- Tiered Implementation: The SPF will be embedded within the Competition and Consumer Act, with supporting rules and sector-specific codes to be introduced via subordinate legislation.
- Compensation: The framework does not introduce mandatory compensation for scam victims.
- Civil Penalties: Tier 1 penalties apply to breaches involving prevention, detection, disruption, or response obligations; Tier 2 covers failures related to governance, reporting, or compliance with sector codes.
- Timeline: The framework takes effect from 21 February 2025, following royal assent. However, obligations for specific sectors will only commence once they are formally designated, with potential transition periods.
Next Steps
The Government will now begin drafting SPF rules and sector codes for the initial three sectors. These will be subject to formal industry consultation.
Collaborative Regulation
The SPF adopts a multi-regulator model:
- ASIC will oversee banking institutions.
- ACMA will regulate telecommunications.
- ACCC will continue to regulate digital platforms and provide overarching coordination.
Regulators will be empowered to share information for enforcement and administration purposes, without the need to notify individuals affected by such disclosures.
For more information contact Rosemary Kanan.
This article is prepared for the general information of interested persons. It is not, and does not attempt to be, comprehensive in nature. Due to the general nature of its content, it should not be regarded as legal advice and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Formal legal advice should be sought in relation to particular transactions or on matters of interest arising from this communication.
