The theme of antitrust in crisis is very timely for the current global climate, but more so than ever for Australia where we had already dealt with unprecedented drought, bushfires and now the global COVID-19 pandemic. Not for a century have Governments had to manage a health and economic crisis of such intensity, scale or…
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has commenced proceedings against cycling wholesaler B & K Holdings (QLD) Pty Ltd, trading as FE Sports (FE Sports), alleging that it engaged in resale price maintenance (RPM). The proceedings are a timely reminder of the risks suppliers face if they restrict resellers’ ability to advertise (in addition…
In brief: Industry collaborations that involve restrictions on supply of goods or services are likely to be per se illegal under Australian competition law. However, businesses can seek to self-assess legal risks under the joint venture exception to cartel conduct or seek to have proposed cartel conduct authorised (approved) by the Australian Competition and Consumer…
Much has been written of the heightened risk of gun-jumping enforcement by competition regulators overseeing mandatory suspensory merger regimes. This article will examine why merger parties and their advisers must also be alive to ‘gun-jumping’ risks in jurisdictions where pre-merger notification is voluntary and there are no automatic standstill obligations. Alongside the succession of ‘gun-jumping’…
Resale price maintenance (RPM) occurs when a manufacture or distributor and a wholesaler prevents a retail or distributor from selling below a specified price Since the US Federal Courts decided Leegin in 2007[1] there has been vigorous debate about whether and in what circumstances RPM should and might be permissible. A proposed new law in…
Following an extensive inquiry into Australia’s competition laws, the Australian government has released its proposed overhaul of the law. The amendments expand the law’s two most significant existing prohibitions, now designed to enable the Australian regulator to take action for information sharing between competitors and to take action against the anticompetitive effects of conduct undertaken…
The Full Court of the Federal Court has just handed down a very important decision in the Fair Work Inspectorate v CFMEU. The decision has very wide ramification across all industries. The Court held that in civil prosecutions, the regulator and respondent are not permitted to make joint submissions to the Court about the appropriate…
Co-authored by Ayman Guirguis (Partner), Jackie Mortensen (Senior Associate), Asa Lam (Lawyer) & Jessica Qiu (Lawyer). On 22 September 2014 the much anticipated Draft Report of the ‘root and branch’ review of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (Act) (Harper Review) was released. The proposed recommendations of the Harper Review panel (Panel) are…
Australia has a statute-based access regime – Part IIIA of the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA). The Commonwealth has recently announced a comprehensive review (Inquiry) of Part IIIA by the Productivity Commission (Commission). The Inquiry’s terms of reference were released on the 25 October 2012 and provide a very broad scope for…
