The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from apparel business Hard Rock Enterprises Pty Ltd in which it admitted to engaging in resale price maintenance and making false or misleading representations about consumers' rights to return faulty or incorrect products.
Hard Rock is an Australian business which sells blank apparel to retailers on a wholesale basis and directly to consumers via its online store. Its customers include uniform shops, merchandisers, and individual consumers.
Hard Rock has admitted that between 20 June 2024 and 11 September 2024 it required certain resellers to sell Hard Rock products within a specific price range.
Under Australia's competition law, it is illegal for suppliers to prevent, or attempt to prevent, resellers from advertising or selling goods or services below a specified minimum price. This conduct is known as resale price maintenance.
"Hard Rock has admitted that it sent written communications to ten resellers requiring them not to sell their products below 10 per cent of Hard Rock's recommended retail price," ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
"In addition, Hard Rock told resellers that if they did not agree, it may adjust pricing or cease supplying its products to them."
"Suppliers cannot maintain price premiums in an anti-competitive way by setting minimum prices for resellers."
"Competition issues in the supermarket and retail sector are an enforcement priority for the ACCC in the 2025-26 financial year. The ACCC takes resale price maintenance conduct very seriously as it can cause significant consumer harm, particularly at a time when Australians are facing increased cost-of-living pressures," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Hard Rock has also admitted to making false or misleading representations to consumers about the amount of time a consumer has to seek a remedy for a faulty product or return an incorrect product.
From at least 24 February 2025, Hard Rock displayed the following statements on its website:
- You must notify us of any faulty or incorrect supplied items within 7 business days of receiving the goods.
- The Seller must be notified by the Purchaser for [sic] delivery shortages and incorrect products against invoice in writing within 48 hours of receiving products.
- The Seller must be notified by the Purchaser for [sic] faulty products in writing within seven (7) days upon receipt of products.
"Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumers have basic rights when buying products and services, known as consumer guarantees. These rights are separate from any warranties offered by a business and cannot be taken away by anything a business says or does," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
"The representations made by Hard Rock on their website were false or misleading as they sought to restrict consumers' consumer guarantee rights by imposing time-limits for returning a faulty or incorrect product."
"Consumers are entitled to a repair or replacement if a product is faulty and can choose to receive a refund if the fault is major," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Hard Rock's undertaking, which the ACCC has accepted, is in effect for three years and includes admissions of breaching the Competition and Consumer Act and the Australian Consumer Law; a commitment to issue corrective notices to the ten resellers and remove misleading representations about consumer guarantees from its website; and implement a compliance program.
The undertaking can be found here: Hard Rock Enterprises Pty Ltd
Note
Resale price maintenance is strictly prohibited by Australia's competition laws. It occurs when suppliers:
- make it known they will not supply goods or services unless a reseller agrees not to advertise or sell at a price below a specified minimum price;
- induce, or attempt to induce, resellers not to advertise or sell below a specified minimum price;
- enter into agreements, or offer to enter into agreements, for the supply of goods or services on terms including that the reseller will not advertise or sell below a specified minimum price;
- withhold supply of goods or services because a reseller, or a purchaser from the reseller, has not agreed to not advertise or sell below a specified minimum price, or has advertised or sold (or is likely to sell) at a price below a specified minimum price;
- use, in relation to goods or services supplied or that may be supplied, a statement as to price which is likely to be understood as the price below which the goods or services are not to be sold.
Businesses may lodge a notification of resale price maintenance conduct with the ACCC or apply for ACCC authorisation of proposed resale price maintenance conduct, which will be permitted if the likely public benefit from the proposed conduct outweighs the likely public detriment from that conduct.
More information about resale price maintenance can be found at Minimum resale prices.
Background
Hard Rock was established in 1997 and operates as a blank apparel business, selling t-shirts, fleeces, polos, jackets, workwear and organic babies wear, among other clothing items to wholesalers and consumers.
Its resellers sometimes add decoration (such as embroidery, screen printing, etc) to the apparel before it is then on-sold to consumers.
