Powers of regulators--such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)--are to be assessed as part of the report.
In May, Ian Davis, commissioner at independent government agency the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), said amongst the areas under review would be fairness--one aspect of which was use of adverse publicity.
-While not generally seen as a penalty, publicity is an important weapon for regulators," Davis said in a statement at the time. -Sometimes the impact of adverse publicity may be more severe than the penalty itself and, in consultations with the ALRC, some practitioners have called for boundaries to be placed on regulators."
ISPs, domain name resellers and vendors have been among the companies the ACCC has started court action against. Whilst not always making it to the courtroom, these cases often receive a fair degree of publicity. This has included the ACCC taking court action against an ISP early last month, and legal action instigated against a domain name reseller in May.
However, the ACCC has defended its use of publicity in situations such as these.
Yesterday ACCC chairman Professor Allan Fels told a Melbourne newspaper that critics wanted to clip its wings and weaken the power of the Trade Practices Act to regulate competition.
-The ACCC is called both unaccountable and publicity-hungry. There is surely a contradiction here because the unaccountable usually avoid publicity," Fels said. -The ACCC has a duty under the Act to publicise its activities as a way of increasing compliance. The vast majority of its media releases relate to matters already decided by the courts and cannot be called 'trial by media'."
In an interview with ZDNet Australia about the review of civil and administrative penalties in the Federal jurisdiction, Davis said the ALRC's report was due to be submitted to the Federal Attorney-General by the end of November.
Davis said the ALRC was assessing to what extent these schemes could be more consistent, systematic and easier to understand. -And that involves trying to ensure there are minimum standards of procedural fairness, or if [there is a] need to depart from those at least it is very clearly stated in the statute or regulations so everyone knows where they stand," he said.
According to Davis, there is a potential that any changes which might be implemented as a result of the ALRC's report could affect all business sectors in Australia. -[The ALRC] is looking at ways [regulatory bodies] might be made to operate more consistently and under better known guidelines, so that people understand the way they'll be treated or the way in which decisions will be made, with some high degree of certainty."
The three main areas of reform being investigated by the ALRC are regulatory consistency and transparency, greater legislative clarity, and greater legislative consistency, according to a statement it issued.
