Harper Competition Review Draft Report Released
Monday 22 September 2014 @ 12.44 p.m. | Trade & Commerce
Today (22 September 2014), the Competition Policy Review or Harper Review has released its first draft report available for public comment including 52 different recommendations for reform of competition law.
Background to Report
As previously stated by TimeBase, the key focus areas for the review were to:
- identify regulations and other impediments across the economy that restrict competition and reduce productivity, which are not in the broader public interest;
- examine the competition provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (the CCA) to ensure that they are driving efficient, competitive and durable outcomes, particularly in light of changes to the Australian economy in recent decades and its increased integration into global markets;
- examine the competition provisions and the special protections for small business in the CCA to ensure that efficient businesses, both big and small, can compete effectively and have incentives to invest and innovate for the future;
- consider whether the structure and powers of the competition institutions remain appropriate, in light of ongoing changes in the economy and the desire to reduce the regulatory impost on business; and
- review government involvement in markets through government business enterprises, direct ownership of assets and the competitive neutrality policy, with a view to reducing government involvement where there is no longer a clear public interest need.
Draft Report Recommendations
The report has recommended changes in three main areas:
- Competition policy - needs reinvigorating through competition principles that apply to all activities of government; review regulations restricting competition and 7 priority reform areas covering new and unfinished business;
- Competition laws - need reforms to enhance effectiveness through reformulating s46 to protect competition; simplifying and clarifying some provisions; streamlining approval processes and access to remedies; and
- Reform in Competition Institutions - mainly through a new national competition reform body to replace the NCC; a new governance structure for the ACCC and a separate access & pricing regulator.
According to the Australian Financial Review, the draft report also recommends opening up the health and education sectors in a bid to assist Australian businesses address the threats of a rising Asia, digital disruption and an ageing population.
In terms of retailers, the report also suggests that restrictions on retail trading hours and limits on parallel imports should be abolished and, in order to boost competition, the report recommends an end to trading hour restrictions and says supermarkets should be allowed to sell alcohol.
The ACCC also welcomes the draft report's recommendations:
“The ACCC particularly welcomes the panel’s view that there is a need to reinvigorate Australia’s competition policy, and ensure that competition policy evolves...The ACCC particularly appreciates the panel’s detailed consideration of microeconomic reform issues, especially in relation to shipping, intellectual property and parallel imports, as well as exposing sectors such as health and education to appropriate competition and improving market signals for significant national infrastructure such as roads.”
Some of these proposed changes will also address the related changes proposed by Senator Nick Xenophon to reinstate a part of the competition law that prevented companies from charging different prices to different companies for the same product or service, particularly in relation to s 49(1) (now repealed) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), in response to current supermarket price gouging wars over bread pricing.
Submissions are invited to be made to the draft report and review by 17 November 2014.
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