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UNTMD: Australian Businesses Have 12 Months to Fix Websites Before Dark Patterns Become Illegal

UNTMD

Key Facts:

• The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 passed the Australian Parliament on 2 July and takes effect from 1 July 2027, giving businesses 12 months to ensure their digital practices are compliant.
• The legislation directly targets dark patterns, prohibiting practices such as drip pricing, subscription traps, false urgency and scarcity signals, pre-ticked boxes, and designs that obscure pricing, with penalties of up to $100 million or 30 per cent of turnover.
• UNTMD advises businesses to audit three key areas: checkout and booking flows, cancellation and renewal processes, and urgency or social proof copy used to pressure consumers into decisions.
• The agency warns that most businesses with an online checkout or membership model will have at least one element that fails to meet the new standard, and that remediation work involving developers, agencies, and legal reviews takes longer than many anticipate.
• The ACCC has already signalled active enforcement intentions in this space, with the recent eHarmony decision cited as an example of the type of subscription conduct now in scope.

SOUTH MELBOURNE, Australia — 2 November 2026 — UNTMD, a South Melbourne digital marketing agency, says the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 that passed Parliament on 2 July and takes effect from 1 July 2027 has created a compliance deadline most Australian businesses running booking flows, subscriptions, or checkout processes have not yet acknowledged.

The Unfair Trading Practices Act prohibits conduct that manipulates consumers or unreasonably distorts the environment in which they make purchasing decisions. The legislation directly targets dark patterns, the design and copy techniques used to nudge users into decisions they would not otherwise make. Specific conduct now in scope includes drip pricing (displaying a base price and progressively adding charges through checkout), subscription traps (making cancellation materially harder than sign-up), false urgency and scarcity signals, pre-ticked boxes, and interface designs that obscure pricing or redirect users away from cancellation. Penalties reach up to $100 million, or 30 per cent of turnover, whichever is greater, with the ACCC responsible for enforcement.

UNTMD says the practical audit covers three areas for most clients. Checkout and booking flows: every step where a price is displayed, a box is ticked, or a subscription is initiated needs to be reviewed against the drip pricing and subscription contract provisions. Cancellation and renewal processes: the test is symmetry: if a signup takes three clicks, a cancellation cannot take eight. Urgency and social proof copy: countdown timers, stock indicators, and dynamic copy that creates pressure to act need to be assessed against the general prohibition standard, which asks whether the conduct manipulates a consumer or unreasonably distorts their decision-making environment.

"Most businesses with an online checkout or a membership model have at least one element that will not pass this test as written. The law does not take effect until July 2027 but the ACCC has already signalled it intends to be active in this space, the eHarmony decision handed down this year illustrates the kind of subscription conduct that is in scope, and the remediation work takes time when it involves a booking system or a third-party checkout. Twelve months is shorter than it sounds when an agency, a developer, and a legal review are in the chain," said Maria Kathopoulis, founder of UNTMD.

UNTMD provides digital marketing audits covering conversion flows, checkout design, and compliance-adjacent UX for clients across eCommerce, services, and subscription-based businesses. The agency holds Google Partner, Meta, Klaviyo, HubSpot, and Semrush certifications.

About us:

About UNTMD

UNTMD is an Australian digital marketing agency providing integrated strategy, SEO, paid media, content, social media, PR, email, and brand services to growth-stage founders and scaling brands. The agency is based in South Melbourne and led by Maria Kathopoulis.

Contact details:

Media Enquiries

Peter Cayetuna

UNTMD

1300 009 111

[email protected]