Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

Please note that consultation has been extended for all schedules in the Exposure Draft bill except Schedule 7 (Misuse of market power). Comments related to the drafting of Schedule 7 must be received by 5pm, 30 September 2016.

Stakeholders are welcome to provide feedback on schedules 1 to 6 and 8 to 13 until 5pm 28 October 2016. Where submissions have already been provided, additional submissions (not related to Schedule 7) will continue to be accepted up to and including that date.

The Government is seeking the views of interested parties on the design of Exposure Draft legislation: the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016. This draft contains significant amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the CCA).

The Exposure Draft [PDF 800KB | DOC 399KB] and accompanying draft Explanatory Material [PDF 1.1MB | RTF 952KB] are available to download in the Related Documents section below.

You will notice that our consultation page has changed. Submissions may now be made in one of two ways:

  • Through the online survey, with specific questions and the opportunity to upload a general written submission; or
  • By emailing or posting in a written submission, which can include answers to the specific questions.
 

Your submission will inform the final drafting of the Bill. Further information on how to make a submission is available below. Submissions on this Exposure Draft must be received no later than 5pm Friday 28 October 2016.

Confidentiality and lodging your submission

Please ensure you have read our information on confidentiality and personal information prior to making a submission. This information is applicable to all submissions.

Making a submission

The best way to make a submission, whether general or in response to the specific questions, is by responding to our online survey. If you do not wish to respond to our online survey, you can still make a submission by email or post. Instructions for both methods are below.

Through the online survey

The online survey will ask a number of specific questions related to various aspects of the drafting. The final page of the survey allows you to make more general comments or to upload a general submission in Word or PDF format.

You are not required to complete the survey in one sitting. Each page of the survey has a ‘save and return’ option, which will allow you to complete the survey later.

By email or post

If you do not wish to make your submission through our online survey, you can still make a general submission, with or without responses to the specific questions.

Please email your submission to competition@treasury.gov.au

Alternately, post your submission to the following address, using the cover sheet available in Related Information below:

Manager
Competition Unit
Market and Competition Policy Division
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600

Background

On 24 November 2015, the Government released its response to the Competition Policy Review (the Harper Review) and on 16 March 2016, the Government further agreed to implement the Review’s recommended changes to section 46 of the CCA, the misuse of market power law.

The Government is now consulting on an Exposure Draft of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016. It is the first step towards giving effect to the Harper Review’s recommendations relating to the law, with broader competition law simplification to follow in a future legislative package. This Exposure Draft includes amendments to the misuse of power provision, as well as a significant number of other important amendments to the CCA which were supported by the Government, including:

  • broadening the definition of ‘competition’ to include potential imports of goods and services, to fully reflect the range of competitive pressures facing Australian firms;
  • confining the cartel conduct provisions to apply to conduct affecting Australian trade or commerce, and broadening the exceptions for joint ventures and vertical trading restrictions to apply to common, pro‑competitive business arrangements;
  • amending the National Access Regime declaration criteria to ensure third-party access is only mandated where it is in the public interest;  
  • consolidating the various authorisation processes into a single, streamlined process; and
  • simplifying the CCA by repealing separate, specific prohibitions on price signalling and exclusionary provisions, and introducing a prohibition against concerted practices.