Competition Law in Australia: a 20th Anniversary Worth Celebrating
Saturday 15 June 2013 @ 4.21 p.m. | Trade & Commerce
With Western Australia becoming the final State to bring into Parliament a bill to align competition and consumer laws with their other State counterparts, it seems only fitting that this also marks the 20th anniversary of the Hilmer committee inquiry into National Competition Policy, which began the move towards a national set of competition laws.
With calls for a competition law review amid possible changes of Federal Government, it is worth looking at what our competition laws have brought about in the last twenty years.
Australian Consumer Rights
With the commencement of the Australian Consumer Law contained in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA), there are now uniform, statutory consumer rights and guarantees regarding supply and delivery of both goods and services.
Cartel Conduct
Previously, cartel conduct (Cartel conduct is defined in s 44ZZRD of the CCA as including four forms of activity: price fixing, market division, restricting outputs and bid rigging) was a common competitive practice. However, it is now prohibited civilly and also constitutes a criminal offence.
Anti-competitive dealing and Misuse of Market Power
Section 45 of the CCA prohibits contracts, arrangements or understandings containing a provision which has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition. Competition protects consumers from high prices and low quality products. It protects consumers from businesses that could otherwise treat their customers with contempt because those customers would have no-where else to turn.
ACCC Powers
Finally, the powers of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have been significantly bolstered with the ability to bring both civil and criminal prosecutions in their own right before the courts against businesses breaking the new Consumer Law.
With competition laws at their most vibrant since the original Hilmer Inquiry, a new review needs to focus on the effectiveness of the laws as a whole without being biased by vested interests in the process.
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