The ACCC will allow Qantas, BP Australia and independent BP petrol stations to collectively participate in the BP Rewards, Qantas Frequent Flyer and Qantas Business Reward programs for five years.
As mentioned in November, the authorised arrangements include allowing BP to require BP-branded petrol stations to participate in the Qantas rewards programs as a condition of new BP petrol station franchise agreements, as well as when existing agreements are renewed.
“The proposed arrangements are likely to result in public benefits, such as providing consumers with more opportunities to accrue and redeem rewards program points and allowing BP to negotiate directly with Qantas on behalf of its petrol station franchisees,” says ACCC Commissioner Stephen Ridgeway.
“Qantas has the biggest loyalty reward scheme in Australia in terms of member numbers, and BP is a major petrol retailer. However, we don’t believe this will have a significant negative impact on competition, because there are many other retailers in Australia, in petrol and other markets, who could launch or participate in different loyalty programs.”
Concerns and recommendations
The ACCC was concerned that the sharing of consumer data between independent BP petrol stations and BP, and between BP and Qantas as a result of these arrangements had the potential to cause some harm to consumers, such as a reduction in privacy.
The ACCC, however, notes that 85 per cent of independent BP petrol stations are subject to the Privacy Act. In addition, BP is implementing additional safeguards to protect data that BP petrol stations receive.
“We encourage BP and Qantas to also adopt our recommendations relating to the collection and use of customer data, as set out in our final report into customer loyalty schemes, and also encourage the remaining BP petrol stations to agree to be covered by the Privacy Act,” says Mr Ridgeway.
The ACCC has authorised the conduct until 20 March 2025.
