Submissions for draft authorisation guidelines

Overview

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has issued draft revised Authorisation Guidelines 2013 for public comment.

The revised Authorisation Guidelines are designed to be a reliable, clear and comprehensive guide to explain the authorisation process in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and the analytical framework applied by the ACCC in assessing applications, including public benefit and detriment.

Why your views matter

The authorisation process in the Act is utilised by a range of parties from primary producers and other small businesses through to large corporations when there is a risk that conduct they intend to engage in may breach the competition provisions of the Act, but they nevertheless consider that they should be able to engage in the conduct because the public benefit will outweigh any public detriment.

While the authorisation provisions and legislative processes in the Act remain the same, the draft is intended to provide up-to-date guidance on the ACCC’s approach based on its recent experience and relevant determinations by the Australian Competition Tribunal.

There is an increased emphasis on the ACCC’s analytical framework for assessing applications and provide clarification on how the ACCC identifies public benefits and detriments and imposes conditions when it grants authorisation.