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Harper reforms commence ?>

Harper reforms commence

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With no warning the Harper Reforms have commenced. Commencement is proclaimed! Last Thursday the Governor General proclaimed that today (6 November 2017) was the day that Schedule 1 of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Reform) Act 2017 would commence. Commencement of that Schedule triggers commencement of all the others as well as commencement of the misuse of market power reforms in the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Misuse of Market Power) Act 2017. Silence is golden …? The Harper…

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Parliament House Australia
Harper competition reforms now passed ?>

Harper competition reforms now passed

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Last week Parliament passed the most significant reforms to Australia’s competition laws in more than two decades. The legislation The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review ) Bill 2017 (CPR Bill) includes the majority of reforms recommended in the 2015 Harper Report. The related Competition and Consumer Amendment (Misuse of Market Power) Act 2017 (MMP Act), became law on 23 August this year.  As the name suggests, it contains the reforms to the misuse of market power provisions. However, commencement of those…

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Parliament House
Harper Reforms: State of Play ?>

Harper Reforms: State of Play

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The Harper recommendations for reform to Australia’s competition laws are being introduced in two stages, with the misuse of market power reforms being debated separately from the remaining reforms. This week the House passed the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Misuse of Market Power) Bill 2016 (after 17 second reading speeches and some significant amendment to the original bill) and introduced the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review ) Bill 2017 containing the remaining key Harper reforms.  Debate on both bills has now been deferred…

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Parliament House Australia
Senate Committee gives green light to effects test ?>

Senate Committee gives green light to effects test

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The Senate Economics Committee today recommended passage of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Misuse of Market Power) Bill 2016 which will introduce the Harper Recommendations (frequently abbreviated as the ‘effects test’). I’ve previously posted about the content and merit of the bill and won’t repeat myself here, instead focusing on what the Committee majority and the dissenting Labor Senators, as well as Nick Xenophon (who sort of agrees but wants more to be done) had to say about it. Briefly the…

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Misuse of Market Power Bill introduced ?>

Misuse of Market Power Bill introduced

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Misuse of market power bill introduced On the last sitting day of Parliament 2016, and while I was snoozing half way around the world thinking the Parliamentary year had ended without any sign of the Harper Reforms, Treasurer Scott Morrison introduced the Misuse of Market Power bill (or the more mundane Competition and Consumer Amendment (Misuse of Market Power) Bill 2016) I’m afraid this will be a lengthy post (that was unintended … it got a bit out of control) – the short version…

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Harper Exposure Draft Legislation Released ?>

Harper Exposure Draft Legislation Released

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The Government today released Exposure Draft legislation (Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016) designed to implement many of the recommendations made as part of the Competition Policy Review (Harper Review) 2014-2015. Consultation – be quick! Interested parties have relatively little time to respond to the draft legislation (which runs to and is accompanied by a 90 page explanatory memorandum), with submissions due by 30 September 2016.  In addition to Treasury’s review of the draft legislation, the ACCC today commenced two consultations on…

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Revival of effects test debate ?>

Revival of effects test debate

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The effects test for misuse of market power (recommended in the Harper Report and accepted by the Government in March this year) has had a bit of a run in the media over the last week. This was prompted the release of the Productivity Commission’s draft report on the regulation of agriculture last Thursday, which suggested the effects test would do nothing to shield farmers from competition in the retail grocery market and that, even if it did, this would…

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Competition reform post-election ?>

Competition reform post-election

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Now that we finally have an election outcome (even if Herbert does still remain in doubt), it’s worth considering what this means for the proposed Harper reforms. We know that the Turnbull Government, in September last year, accepted most of the recommendations made in the Harper Report.  Following a further consultation, the Government announced (in March 2016) it would also adopt the controversial ‘effects test’ recommended by the Harper Panel in relation to misuse of market power.  We also know that Labor opposes the effects…

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The election and competition law and policy ?>

The election and competition law and policy

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It’s federal election time again and time to consider the respective policy positions of each of the major parties.  The key area of differentiation to date has been in relation to the introduction of an effects test for misuse of market power.  This has been supported by the Government and the Greens but is opposed by the Labor Party.  More recently the Labor party has indicated it would ‘ensure that competition policy does more to ameliorate the growing economic gap in our society’….

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