Credit Act 1984

A person shall not publish, or cause to be published, an advertisement stating or implying that credit is available in respect of the payment for goods or services sold or supplied by him under a contract of sale to which Part II applies or that he provides credit under regulated contracts if—

the advertisement includes—

a representation that is false, misleading or deceptive; or

a statement that is, or is to the effect of, a statement prescribed for the purposes of this section as a prohibited statement;

the advertisement does not include a statement prescribed for the purposes of this section as a statement required to be included in the advertisement; or

the advertisement includes a statement of the amount of a periodic payment in respect of the credit and does not also, in the advertisement—

specify the amount that is the total of the amount financed and the credit charge to which that periodic payment relates;

describe that total as the amount repayable by those periodic payments and specify the period over which that total is payable; and

specify the cash price of any such goods or services.

A reference in subsection (1) to a false representation includes a reference to a representation that states or implies that the rate of interest or charges payable under a credit contract is a rate other than the annual percentage rate that would be applicable to contracts of that kind.

In any proceedings for a contravention of subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1), if it is proved that the representation to which the proceedings relate was false, misleading or deceptive in a material particular, the person who published the representation, or caused it to be published, shall be deemed to have published it, or to have caused it to be published, with knowledge of its falsity, or misleading or deceptive character, as the case may be, unless he proves that, having taken all reasonable precautions against such a contravention, he had reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, that the representation was true, and had no reason to suspect that the representation was false, misleading or deceptive.

Where—

an advertisement is published in contravention of subsection (1);

within three months after that publication, a debtor enters into a regulated contract to which, or into a regulated contract of a kind to which, the advertisement relates; and

the debtor suffers loss by reason of entering into the contract as a result of the advertisement—

Subsection (4)—

does not affect the liability of a person to be convicted of an offence against this Act by reason of a contravention of subsection (1); and

is in addition to all other rights (whether under this Act or any other Act or law) of a debtor against the person who published the advertisement or caused it to be published.

In any proceedings arising under this section—

where a name, business name, address, telephone number or post office box number specified in an advertisement is that of a person, or the agent of a person, who—

is the owner, whether alone or jointly with one or other persons, of any goods;

is the supplier of any goods or services;

has an interest in goods otherwise than as an owner, or has an interest in the supply of any services; or

is a person who provides credit under regulated contracts—

a person who causes an advertisement to be published shall be deemed to have done so on any day on which the advertisement was published.

Proceedings for a contravention of a provision of this section or under subsection (4) do not lie against the printer, publisher or proprietor of a newspaper, or the licensee of a commercial broadcasting station or commercial television station, or the exhibitor of a film, or against any person acting under the authority of such a printer, publisher, proprietor, licensee or exhibitor, for the publication of a representation or statement in, or omission of a statement from, an advertisement unless—

the printer, publisher, proprietor, licensee or exhibitor was warned by an inspector—

in the case of a representation referred to in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1)—that publication of the representation, or of a representation substantially the same as that representation; or

in any other case—that publication or, as the case may require, omission of the statement—

the printer, publisher, proprietor, licensee or exhibitor, after receipt of the warning, published, or caused to be published or, as the case may be, omitted to publish, the representation or statement in an advertisement.

In this section—

advertisement includes, without affecting the generality of the expression, a notice, sign, label, circular and matter that is not writing but, by reason of the form or context in which it appears, conveys a message;

a reference to the publishing of an advertisement is a reference to its publishing by any means, including publication in a newspaper or periodical, by radio, by television, or in a film; and

licensee, commercial broadcasting station and commercial television station have the same meanings as they have in the Broadcasting and Television Act 1942 of the Commonwealth, as amended and in force for the time being.