Small business, big risk: why the ACCC isn't just targeting large corporations

"We're too small for the ACCC to care" — what the data actually shows

The most common objection small Australian businesses raise to greenwashing risk is that the ACCC only goes after large corporations. The headline enforcement matters — Vanguard, Mercer, Active Super — reinforce that impression. The data underneath tells a different story.

In March 2023 the ACCC published the findings of its internet sweep. It reviewed 247 businesses across eight sectors — including consumer goods, cosmetics, food and drink, household, fashion, and others — and found that 57% had made concerning environmental claims. The sweep was not limited to large corporations; it covered businesses of varying sizes within each sector.¹

Environmental claims have been a stated priority every year since

"Misleading sustainability and environmental claims" was named as a compliance and enforcement priority in the ACCC's 2023–24 statement and has appeared in successive priority statements, including 2024–25 and 2025–26.² A multi-year priority signals that the regulator has built up sector knowledge, staff capacity and case experience to act — and that the next round of cases is more likely to reach beyond the largest names.

The ACL applies to every trader, at every size

The Australian Consumer Law, in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), applies to all businesses supplying goods or services to consumers — sole traders, partnerships, small private companies, large listed companies. The prohibitions in ss 18 and 29 don't have a turnover threshold.³

Two practical points follow. First, intent is not required: section 18 is a strict-liability provision, so a small business owner making a claim in good faith can still contravene the ACL if the claim is likely to mislead the average consumer. Second, the maximum civil penalty per contravention by a body corporate is the greater of $50 million, three times the benefit obtained, or 30% of adjusted turnover during the period of the breach.⁴ For a small business, the 30%-of-turnover ceiling can be the binding figure.

The enforcement toolkit scales down, not just up

Federal Court penalties make the news, but the ACCC has a range of lower-touch tools that are routinely used against smaller traders:

• Infringement notices. The ACCC can issue an infringement notice where it has reasonable grounds to believe a person has contravened certain ACL provisions, including s 29. The current penalty per notice is set by regulation and is significant relative to a small business's marketing budget.⁵
• Court-enforceable undertakings (s 87B). A business can agree to stop the conduct, correct the claims, run a compliance programme and (sometimes) publish a corrective notice — without a court finding of contravention. The ACCC publishes accepted undertakings on its public register.⁶
• Substantiation notices (s 219). The ACCC can require a business to produce information or documents to substantiate a representation it has made. Failure to comply is itself an offence.³
• Public warnings (s 223). The ACCC can name a business publicly where it has reasonable grounds to suspect conduct in breach of the ACL — a reputational outcome that doesn't require any court action at all.³

For most small businesses, the realistic exposure isn't a $50 million Federal Court penalty. It's a substantiation notice followed by an infringement notice, a public undertaking, or being named in a media release.

Where small businesses tend to get caught

Patterns the ACCC has flagged repeatedly map closely to how small businesses typically write copy:

• Generic words like eco, green, natural and sustainable applied to a whole product or whole business without a defined scope.¹
• Decorative leaf icons, ticks and earth symbols that look like trust marks but aren't tied to any certification.⁷
• "Recyclable" on packaging that isn't accepted in standard kerbside collection.⁷
• Carbon-related claims ("carbon neutral", "low carbon") without a methodology, a scope, or a programme reference.⁷
• Aspirational targets ("net zero by 2030") written in the present tense.⁷

What a small business can do this week

1. List every environmental claim on the website, packaging and social-channel profiles. Include the homepage, About page, product pages and FAQs.
2. For each one, identify which of the ACCC's eight principles it engages — most commonly principle 1 (accuracy), 2 (evidence), 3 (don't omit important information) or 5 (avoid broad and unqualified claims).⁷
3. Where evidence isn't available, either substantiate the claim or rewrite it to something the evidence does support.
4. Keep a dated, version-controlled record of the wording and the evidence behind it.

Related reading

See What is greenwashing?, the ACCC's eight principles, and our list of Australian enforcement examples.