23 Marcus Clarke Street
Canberra ACT 2601
GPO Box 3131
Canberra ACT 2601
Our ref:
PRJ1008329
Contact officer:
FOI Team
tel: (02) 6243 1111
Contact phone:
02 6243 1244
fax: (02) 6243 1199
20 October 2025
www.accc.gov.au
Zack
Sent via email to:
Dear Applicant,
Internal review decision on freedom of information request
I refer to your email dated 18 September 2025
in which you request an internal
review of our freedom of information decision of 17 September 2025. Your FOI
request requested access to:
‘the titles/name and reference and date of the documents identified regarding the following:’
‘For the period from 1 November 2016 to the present, I request the following information
regarding corporations, businesses, or individuals involved in the medicinal cannabis industry in
Australia:
The total number of complaints or reports received concerning potential breaches of the
Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
The total number of investigations commenced.
The total number of matters that resulted in enforcement action or other compliance outcomes.
A de-identified list of all enforcement actions or compliance outcomes, specifying for each
matter:
a. The nature of the alleged conduct (e.g., misleading or deceptive conduct, unconscionable
conduct, anti-competitive exclusive dealing, third-line forcing, false or misleading
representations).
b. The penalty or outcome (e.g., infringement notice issued, court-enforceable undertaking
accepted, institution of legal proceedings, pecuniary penalty imposed).
This request specifically includes complaints, investigations, or actions taken in relation to
business models of concern within the medicinal cannabis sector, including but not limited to:
"Prescription Channelling": Practices that direct or require patients to have prescriptions filled at
a specific pharmacy, potentially limiting consumer choice and constituting anti-competitive
conduct such as third-line forcing or exclusive dealing.
"Closed-Loop" or Vertically Integrated Models: Business structures where the prescribing entity,
clinic, or practitioner has a direct or indirect financial interest in the supplier or pharmacy,
creating potential conflicts of interest that may lead to misleading conduct or consumer harm.’
Decision
In accordance with s.54C of the Act, I have decided to affirm the original decision on
the basis that the practical refusal reason still exists.
I am authorised under s.23 of the Act, to make this decision.
After consulting the relevant staff, I am satisfied that to process your request would
substantially and unreasonably divert the reasons of the ACCC from its other
operations.
Request consultation process
On 2 September 2025 the ACCC wrote to you to notify you of our intention to refuse
your request. You were notified of our intention to refuse access to the documents
under s.24 of the Act. This was because the work involved in processing your
request would be a substantial and unreasonable diversion of its resources.
Our letter provided options you could consider for revising the scope of your request
and you were given contact details for an ACCC Officer with whom you could consult
during the consultation period. You did not contact the ACCC Officer during this time
to arrange a discussion.
I am satisfied that the ACCC undertook a request consultation process in accordance
with s.24AB of the Act.
Practical refusal reason
On 2 September 2025, you revised your request to:
‘the titles/name and reference and date of the documents identified..:’
The initial decision maker estimated that your revised request would capture:
• 141
documents
• 705 pages of material
• over 12 hours of staff time would be required to draw together the relevant
documents
• over 71 hours of staff time would be required to process your request. This
includes the examination of documents, consultation, copying of documents
and notification of decision.
I have reviewed the information provided by ACCC staff who work in the Division that
hold this material and am satisfied that they have reasonably estimated the material
held, and the initial decision maker’s views on the approximate number of hours of
time that would be needed to make a decision.
I am satisfied that your revised request has not reduced the scope of the request to a
point which would remove the grounds for refusal.
The ACCC’s document repositories have bespoke functionality as they have been
designed to support ACCC staff in conducting specific activities to facilitate the
ACCC carrying out its statutory functions. It is not possible to precisely extract the
data you are seeking within these repositories. To find such data would involve
ACCC staff downloading the document in its entirety and manually removing the data
irrelevant to your request. It is for this reason that the estimate of resources to
process your request is similar for the initial and revised scope of your request.
2
Processing this revised request would, in my view, be a substantial diversion of the
ACCC’s resources within the meaning of s.24AA(1). To place the estimate above in
context, if one person were dedicated to processing your FOI request, working 5
days a week, the person would require 2 weeks to complete your request.
The ACCC is an independent statutory authority that enforcers the
Competition and
Consumer Act 2010 and other acts. The ACCC promotes competition and fair trade
in the market place to benefit consumers, business and the community. Its primary
responsibility is to ensure that individuals and businesses comply with the
Commonwealth's competition, fair-trading and consumer protection laws.
Approximately 1703 staff meet these responsibilities across Australia, most of who
are in specialised roles. We need the skills and experience possessed by these staff
to assist the ACCC to meet its responsibilities. If the ACCC were to move staff from
their areas of expertise to assist in the processing of this FOI request, it would cause
an unreasonable burden on their work areas. This could possibly lead to the ACCC
not being able to perform its functions appropriately. I do not consider that it would be
appropriate for the ACCC to divert its resources away from this regulatory function to
process your request.
In making my decision, I have had regard to information provided to me by ACCC
officers, as to the functionalities of the relevant systems, and to the submissions
made in your email of 18 September 2025. I have not taken into account any
irrelevant factors, such as any reasons you may have for requesting access or any
maximum amount payable as a charge for processing your request.
You may submit a new request should you wish to proceed with seeking access to
this material, but that it would need to be revised to capture less documents and for
that we suggest that the date range be significantly reduced.
Yours sincerely
Chelsea Mears
FOI Team Leader
Specialist Advice and Services Division
Sent by email 20/10/2025
3
Attachment A
Internal Review – Information on rights of review
Review by the Information Commissioner
You can ask for a review of this internal review decision by the Australian Information
Commissioner (IC).
Timeframe for requesting IC review
You have 60 days from the receipt of an access refusal decision to request IC review.
You may seek an extension to this timeframe from the OAIC.
Is there a charge?
There is no charge payable for requesting an IC review.
Requesting IC review
Your request for IC review must be in writing and include:
• your name and contact details
• a copy of the ACCC’s decision that you disagree with (if you’ve received one)
• the reason(s) why you disagree with the decision
You can lodge your request for IC review online:
Online: https://www.oaic.gov.au/contact-us#reviews
Complaint to the Information Commissioner
You can request the Information Commissioner to investigate action taken by the ACCC in
relation to this FOI request. The Information Commissioner will consider your complaint and,
if appropriate, conduct an investigation. Any investigation will be completely independent.
Is there a charge?
There is no charge payable for making a complaint to the IC.
Lodging an IC complaint
You must lodge your complaint in writing and give a clear and brief description of each issue
you’re complaining about and what outcome you’d like.
You can lodge a complaint online:
Online: https://www.oaic.gov.au/contact-us#complaints
Document Outline
