The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has seen its budget blow out as a result of increased external legal costs.

The regulator reported an operating loss of A$26.2 million for the 2012 financial year, and spent a total of A$26.277 million on legal fees. This is an increase on the previous two financial years which were A$25.3 million and A$20.9 million respectively.

According to its annual report, the ACCC increased expenditure overall by A$27.2 million, as a result of increases in employee related costs and settlement of litigation costs. The regulator’s expenditure has been steadily increasing for the past five years.

In the 2012 financial year the ACCC commenced a total of 26 litigious matters including cases against Apple, Google and Harvey Norman. In the case against Apple, the international technology company was fined A$2.25 million by the court for misleading advertising. In the Harvey Norman case the retailer was fined A$1.25 million. The case against Google is yet to be finalised.

The ACCC also had wins in ongoing disputes including the Air Cargo Cartel case and the Ticketek dispute. The cartel case has so far seen A$58 million worth of penalties ordered by the courts against airlines, and further operators are set to face trial in the coming 12 months. Ticketek was also fined A$2.5 million for its misuse of market power.

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