ACCC Seeks Feedback on Proposed Competition Law Reforms
Tuesday 6 September 2016 @ 10.09 a.m. | Legal Research | Trade & Commerce
It has been announced in an ACCC Media Release that the Australian Government has released an exposure draft of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016 (Cth) with the aim to implement reforms identified by the Harper Competition Policy Review.
Why the ACCC is consulting
The ACCC has released a framework for guidance on how it proposes to approach two important proposals in the exposure draft Bill:
- amending the misuse of market power provision (s 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (the Act)) to introduce a substantial lessening of competition test to determine whether a business with a substantial degree of market power has engaged in anti-competitive conduct; and
- the creation of a prohibition against concerted practices that substantially lessen competition.
The ACCC is inviting feedback from consumers, businesses and other stakeholders about the issues and topics the ACCC can provide guidance on to assist them understand how the proposed s 46 will operate and how the ACCC will approach potential breaches of the provision.
Example of “Competition” in Current and proposed New Law
Competition is defined in current law as:
Competition includes goods and services that are imported
whereas the new law proposal is:
Competition expressly includes goods and services that are capable of being imported, in addition to goods and services that are imported.
Comment from the consumer watchdog
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said:
“We are interested in receiving comments or suggestions from interested parties regarding the proposed content of the guidelines outlined in this framework. In particular, the ACCC is inviting feedback from consumers, businesses, and other stakeholders about the issues and topics the ACCC can provide guidance on to assist them understand how the amended misuse of market power prohibition, and the prohibition on anti-competitive concerted practices are likely to operate and how we’ll approach those provisions.”
Where to from here
If the Bill is enacted, the ACCC will publish guidelines that will be based on this framework to explain the approach to possible breaches of these prohibitions. Ultimately it will be a matter for the court to determine if particular conduct has breached the relevant prohibitions.
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Sources:
ACCC seeks feedback on a framework for guidance on competition law reforms – ACCC Release MR 162/16
Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016 (Cth) – Explanatory Memorandum available from TimeBase LawOne Service
