The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston has announced government proposals to shake up the powers of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, to give it wider powers to enforce competition in the telecommunications industry.
The ACCC is responsible for monitoring and ensuring fair competition in the deregulated industry. One of the key weapons that the ACCC holds is the 'competition notice' which advises telecommunications companies of anti-competitive behavior and carries the threat of millions of dollars of fines should a company issued with a notice fail to alter its behavior.
However, according to Alston, the current system does not have the flexibility originally intended and changes are necessary to allow the ACCC to keep up with the industry.
"It was intended to be a quick, less-legalistic system which would allow for a rapid response capability from the ACCC," he noted. But so far it does not seem to have worked as well as it was intended. It seems to take a long time and a lot of work on the ACCC's part before the issue of a notice."
According to the Minister, the regulatory changes will free up the notice system to make it easier for the ACCC to issue competition notices. Under the new scheme, the ACCC will be given the power to issue two different types of notices - Part A and Part B. Part A notices will require less preparation and will be able to be issued on shorter notice. Part B notices will set out the details of the contravention of the competition laws and will be issued if the telecommunications provider fails to adhere to the first notice and legal action is required.
Under the new regime, the ACCC will also be able to issue advisory notices to inform recipients of competition notices how they might be able to alter their conduct to conform to competition policies.
Speaking at the opening of the Now99 telecommunications conference in Sydney, Alston said that the changes to the legislation will give the ACCC more power to enforce competition policies and assist deregulation of the market.
"Our amendments will clarify the definition of anti-competitive conduct. No longer will there need to be one 'big band' instance of such conduct," he stated. Rather, the Court will be able to look at conduct in conjunction with other conduct and consider whether it would have the combined effect of substantially lessening competition in a telecommunications market."
The legislative changes planned will also allow individuals to seek private redress for breaches of the competition rules, regardless of whether the ACCC has issued a competition notice.
