Broadband speed and performance claims, misbehaving health insurance providers and consumer guarantees, such as those provided by the airline industry, are in the sights of the competition and consumer watchdog this year.

 Launching its Compliance and Enforcement policy for 2017, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has committed to targeting misleading and deceptive practices, anti-competitive conduct and unfair contract terms.

"When the ACCC takes action, it sends a message. Our enforcement record against anti competitive or anti-consumer behaviour lets businesses know that we are serious about bringing them to account," ACCC chairman Rod Sims will say in a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Sydney on Friday.

"We see companies breaching the Act, or coming very close to it ... We believe the current low civil penalties contribute to this. We are seeking to change this, and we are seeing encouraging signs from the courts to assist us."

New car retailing, broadband speed and performance claims, and consumer guarantees are also on the agenda.

To address inaccurate broadband performance and speed claims, the ACCC has issued new principles for advertising speeds available on retail fixed line broadband plans, which will be available in the first half of this year.

A Broadband Performance Monitoring and Reporting program will be launched to determine whether speed issues are linked to the NBN itself or retail services providers.

Mr Sims told Fairfax Media the ACCC would also intensify its focus on the private health insurance industry, following its action against Medibank Private in the Federal Court, for failing to adequately notify consumers of changes to its policy.

"I think we will see a couple of others in the course of 2017 ... where we think there has been a change of policy and people haven't been informed about that," he said.

"The response we seem to be getting from private health insurers is that they are complying with private health insurance regulations ... but that's got nothing to do with Australian Consumer Law."

The commitment follows the ACCC's recent market study, which found bill shock, inadequate cover and reduced access to health care among the challenges consumers faced.

This year will also see a greater focus on the new unfair contract terms law protecting small businesses, which came into effect last year.

"...Almost two-thirds of small businesses have experienced some harm as a result of unfairness in contract terms and conditions that they have signed," Mr Sims will say in his address.

He will cite Australia Post and Optus as businesses that have amended or removed contract terms in response to the new law.

"We've come across some amazingly written contracts that are terribly one-sided," Mr Sims told Fairfax Media.

"... Contract terms that shouldn't be part of business contracts in this day and age," such as unreasonable abilities to end a contract, or protection powers at the expense of a small business.

The watchdog will use 2017 to home in on the big end of town, continuing its pursuit of Kimberly-Clark and Pental, Volkswagen, Heinz and Medibank Private in the Federal Court, while taking on even "more large cases".

"We think companies of that size and reputation should be taking greater care in how they market their products to consumers," Mr Sims said.

"It's not anything goes, here. It's complying with the law and treating your customers with respect."

Cartels will also remain a priority issue for the ACCC, after investigations last year led to two criminal cartel charges.

On Friday Mr Sims will cite the OPEC cartel, which recently saw consumers paying more for petrol than they should.

"Unfortunately, I fear that only jail sentences for individuals in prominent companies will help to send the appropriate deterrence messages that cartels seriously damage competition and the economy as a whole,"