Hewlett-Packard Australia will have to pay a $3 million fine for making false and misleading claims on warranty conditions to customers and retailers.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched into action against HP late last year, the federal commission has found HP made false or misleading representations about consumer guarantee rights, including the terms of repairs, product returns and warranties.

An out-of-court settlement has been approved between the two parties, meaning HP will have to hand over the $3 million.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims says he hopes the case will be noticed across industries; "The ACCC believes that this penalty sends a strong message to all companies, particularly large multi-national companies, that the Australian Consumer Law is not negotiable," Mr Sims said, “this result also shows that the court is not afraid to impose significant penalties for serious contraventions of the ACL."

Hewlett-Packard Australia released a statement to the media, saying “We deeply regret that in the instances identified by the ACCC, HP fell short of our core commitment to high standards of service for Australian consumers who purchased our HP-branded desktop computers, notebooks/laptops and printers, and of our duties under Australian consumer laws.”