Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading (Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting) Regulations 2025 (Vic)
Version No. 001
Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading (Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting) Regulations 2025
S.R. No. 74/2025
Version as at
6 August 2025
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Regulation Page
1Objective
2Authorising provision
3Commencement
4Revocation
5Prescription of Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting
Schedule 1—Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting
═════════════
Endnotes
1 General information
2 Table of Amendments
3 Explanatory details
Version No. 001
Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading (Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting) Regulations 2025
S.R. No. 74/2025
Version as at
6 August 2025
1Objective
The objective of these Regulations is to prescribe a code of practice to regulate—
(a)the display of fuel prices on price boards at service stations; and
(b)the reporting of fuel prices to the Director for the purposes of publication on an application.
2Authorising provision
These Regulations are made under section 232 of the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012.
3Commencement
These Regulations come into operation on 6 August 2025.
4Revocation
The Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading (Code of Practice for Fuel Price Boards) Regulations 2016[1] are revoked.
5Prescription of Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting
For the purposes of Part 6.3 of the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012, the code of practice set out in the Schedule to these Regulations is the Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting.
SCHEDULE 1—CODE OF PRACTICE FOR FUEL PRICE REPORTING
Regulation 5
1Citation
This code of practice may be cited as the Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting.
2Purposes of code
The purposes of this code of practice are—
(a)to regulate the display of fuel prices on price boards at service stations; and
(b)to require fuel retailers in Victoria to report fuel prices to the Director for publication on an application.
3Definitions
In this code of practice—
application means a software application that is—
(a)designed for use on an electronic device; and
(b)maintained for the purpose of providing fuel pricing information to consumers;
biodiesel means a diesel fuel obtained by esterification of oil derived from plants or animals;
confirmed fuel retailer means a fuel retailer that has received confirmation from the Director under clause 4(3);
discounted fuel price, in relation to a type of fuel, means the price per litre at which fuel of that type is available to consumers after any discount (whether by a voucher, discount rate, reward scheme or any other means) is applied;
fuel means any of the following—
(a)petroleum products within the meaning of the Business Franchise (Petroleum Products) Act 1979;
(b)biodiesel;
(c)compressed gas;
(d)liquefied natural gas;
(e)liquefied petroleum gas;
fuel pump display means the numerical display of the normal fuel price appearing on a metered fuel pump at a service station;
fuel retailer means a person or body who carries on the business of supplying fuel for retail sale;
liquefied petroleum gas means a hydrocarbon fluid composed predominantly of any of the following hydrocarbons or mixtures of all or any of them—
(a)propane;
(b)propylene;
(c)butane;
(d)butylene;
normal fuel price in relation to a type of fuel, means the price per litre at which fuel of that type is available to consumers without any discount (whether by a voucher, discount rate, reward scheme or any other means) applying;
service station means a building, place or premises where fuel is supplied for retail sale, but does not include a building, place or premises where the primary business is the hiring, leasing or sale of motor vehicles.
4Fuel retailer must provide information to the Director
(1)Subject to subclause (2), a fuel retailer must provide the following information to the Director in accordance with any requirements of the Director—
(a)the business or company name of the fuel retailer;
(b)the business logo (if any) of the fuel retailer;
(c)the ABN of the fuel retailer;
(d)the trading name of the fuel retailer (if applicable) and the street address and postal address of the office of the fuel retailer;
(e)the number of service stations operated by the fuel retailer;
(f)the names of the fuel retailer's service stations (if different from the trading name described in paragraph (d));
(g)the street address, email address and telephone number of each of the fuel retailers' service stations;
(h)the name, position title, email address and telephone number of the person providing the information;
(i)the name, email address and telephone number of the primary contact person for each of the fuel retailer's service stations (if different from the person described in paragraph (h));
(j)the method the fuel retailer will use to provide information relating to fuel prices for each of its service stations to the Director;
(k)the trading hours of each of the fuel retailer's service stations;
(l)the brands and types of fuel offered for retail sale at each of the fuel retailer's service stations;
(m)if membership may be required to purchase fuel at a service station;
(n)any other information requested by the Director.
(2)A fuel retailer must provide information under subclause (1)—
(a)if the fuel retailer commences trading on or before the commencement day, within 14 business days after the commencement day; or
(b)if the fuel retailer commences trading after the commencement day, on or before the first day on which the fuel retailer offers any fuel for sale to retail customers.
(3)If, on receiving information from a fuel retailer under subclause (1), the Director is satisfied that the fuel retailer has complied with subclause (1), the Director must give the fuel retailer written confirmation of that compliance.
(4)A fuel retailer must notify the Director of any changes to the information referred to in subclause (1) within 14 business days of the change.
(5)In this clause—
commencement day means the day on which these Regulations come into operation.
5Requirements for confirmed fuel retailers
(1)The Director may notify a confirmed fuel retailer of any requirement that the Director considers reasonably necessary for the reporting of fuel prices for publication on the application.
(2)A confirmed fuel retailer must comply with a requirement of the Director under subclause (1) within 15 business days after being notified of that requirement.
6Price board not to display discounted price
A fuel retailer must not display a discounted fuel price on any price board.
7Price board may display information about discounts
A fuel retailer may display information about discounts and special offers on a price board so long as only normal fuel prices are displayed.
8Reporting of fuel prices
A confirmed fuel retailer must provide the normal fuel price of each fuel offered for retail sale by the retailer to the Director as soon as practicable, but not more than 30 minutes after the fuel becomes available for sale by the retailer, for publication on the application.
9Display and reporting of increases in normal fuel price
If a fuel retailer increases the normal fuel price for a type of fuel on any fuel pump display, the retailer must—
(a)ensure that the price displayed on the price board is changed to reflect the increase in price before or at the same time the price is increased; and
(b)in the case of a confirmed fuel retailer, notify the Director as soon as practicable, but not more than 30 minutes after the price is increased in the fuel pump display, for publication on the application.
10Display and reporting of decreases in normal fuel price
If a fuel retailer decreases the normal fuel price for a type of fuel on any fuel pump display, the retailer must—
(a)ensure that the price board reflects the decrease in price as soon as reasonably practicable; and
(b)in the case of a confirmed fuel retailer, notify the Director as soon as practicable, but not more than 30 minutes after the price is decreased in the fuel pump display, for publication on the application.
11Reporting if fuel becomes unavailable
If a fuel offered for retail sale by a confirmed fuel retailer is temporarily unavailable, the retailer must notify the Director as soon as reasonably practicable for publication on the application.
12Defences for breach of code of practice
(1)In proceedings for an offence against section 141 of the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012 constituted by a person's failure or alleged failure to comply with clause 8, 9(b), 10(b) or 11, it is a defence for the person charged with the offence to prove that the person was unable to comply with that clause due to—
(a)an emergency; or
(b)the unavailability of the application as the result of circumstances beyond the person's control.
(2)In this clause—
emergency has the same meaning as in the Emergency Management Act 2013.
═════════════
ENDNOTES
1 General information
See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current Versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.
The Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading (Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting) Regulations 2025, S.R. No. 74/2025 were made on 5 August 2025 by the Governor in Council under section 232 of the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012, No. 21/2012 and came into operation on 6 August 2025: regulation 3.
The Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading (Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting) Regulations 2025 will sunset 10 years after the day of making on 5 August 2035 (see section 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994).
INTERPRETATION OF LEGISLATION ACT 1984 (ILA)
Style changes
Section 54A of the ILA authorises the making of the style changes set out in Schedule 1 to that Act.
References to ILA s. 39B
Sidenotes which cite ILA s. 39B refer to section 39B of the ILA which provides that where an undivided regulation, rule or clause of a Schedule is amended by the insertion of one or more subregulations, subrules or subclauses the original regulation, rule or clause becomes subregulation, subrule or subclause (1) and is amended by the insertion of the expression "(1)" at the beginning of the original regulation, rule or clause.
Interpretation
As from 1 January 2001, amendments to section 36 of the ILA have the following effects:
• Headings
All headings included in a Statutory Rule which is made on or after
1 January 2001 form part of that Statutory Rule. Any heading inserted in a Statutory Rule which was made before 1 January 2001, by a Statutory Rule made on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Statutory Rule.
This includes headings to Parts, Divisions or Subdivisions in a Schedule; Orders; Parts into which an Order is divided; clauses; regulations; rules; items; tables; columns; examples; diagrams; notes or forms.
See section 36(1A)(2A)(2B).
• Examples, diagrams or notes
All examples, diagrams or notes included in a Statutory Rule which is made on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Statutory Rule. Any examples, diagrams or notes inserted in a Statutory Rule which was made before 1 January 2001, by a Statutory Rule made on or after 1 January 2001, form part of that Statutory Rule. See section 36(3A).
• Punctuation
All punctuation included in a Statutory Rule which is made on or after
1 January 2001 forms part of that Statutory Rule. Any punctuation inserted in a Statutory Rule which was made before 1 January 2001, by a Statutory Rule made on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Statutory Rule.
See section 36(3B).
• Provision numbers
All provision numbers included in a Statutory Rule form part of that Statutory Rule, whether inserted in the Statutory Rule before, on or after
1 January 2001. Provision numbers include regulation numbers, rule numbers, subregulation numbers, subrule numbers, paragraphs and subparagraphs. See section 36(3C).
• Location of "legislative items"
A "legislative item" is a penalty, an example or a note. As from 13 October 2004, a legislative item relating to a provision of a Statutory Rule is taken to be at the foot of that provision even if it is preceded or followed by another legislative item that relates to that provision. For example, if a penalty at the foot of a provision is followed by a note, both of these legislative items will be regarded as being at the foot of that provision. See section 36B.
• Other material
Any explanatory memorandum, table of provisions, endnotes, index and other material printed after the Endnotes does not form part of a Statutory Rule. See section 36(3)(3D)(3E).
2 Table of Amendments
There are no amendments made to the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading (Code of Practice for Fuel Price Reporting) Regulations 2025 by statutory rules, subordinate instruments and Acts.
3 Explanatory details
[1] Reg. 4: S.R. No. 54/2016.
0
0
0