The Issue

NSW Fair Trading receives over 45,000 complaints from consumers each year about businesses across a large range of industries. The Complaints Register (the Register) is a published list of businesses that are the subject of 10 or more complaints to NSW Fair Trading in a calendar month. The Register has been published monthly since August 2016.

The policy intent of the Register is to help consumers make informed decisions about where they shop and which traders they purchase goods and services from. In addition, it aims to help traders lift standards, shining a light on areas where customer service and complaint resolution processes could improve.

The Complaints Register Guidelines were developed to support the design and administration of the Register. NSW Fair Trading is conducting a review of the Guidelines to get a greater understanding of the effectiveness of the Guidelines in supporting the operation of the Register.

As part of the review process, an Issues Paper was released to facilitate public feedback about the Complaints Register Guidelines.

As part of the consultation, we invited business owners and operators, industry bodies, consumer groups, consumers and all other interested parties to read the Complaints Register Guidelines Review Issues Paper and provide feedback.

NSW Fair Trading will analyse all submissions and feedback received throughout the consultation process. This will be used to help identify any potential changes to the Guidelines. The findings will be included in a final report.