Chapter 12
Competition Principles

The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA) regulates competition in Australia. It prohibits a range of anti-competitive behaviour, governs merger activity and regulates companies’ dealings with customers under the Australian Consumer Law.
The CCA provides for authorisation and notification processes to permit behaviour otherwise prohibited by the legislation, such as mergers, resale price maintenance, misuse of market power, cartel conduct and exclusive dealing. Significant reforms to the Australian competition recently came into effect. The new laws include the introduction of a prohibition on concerted practices and a lessening of competition test for the prohibition on misuse of market power.
Contravention of the CCA carries significant penalties, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the body responsible for enforcing the CCA, increasingly pursuing criminal prosecution of companies and individuals for cartel conduct. In May 2018, the ACCC successful brought proceedings before the Full Federal Court against Yazaki Corporation which was ordered to pay a penalty of $46 million for cartel conduct, the highest penalty ever handed down under the CCA. Furthermore, in 2018 the ACCC brought two criminal cartel proceedings which included individuals as co-defendants, the first time this has occurred in Australia. The ACCC’s enforcement priorities for 2018 included misleading and deceptive practices (particularly in relation to the misrepresentation of consumer guarantees), anti-competitive conduct, product safety, and unfair contract terms affecting small business and franchisee businesses, with a particular emphasis upon contravening behaviour in the financial services and energy sectors and in the online marketplace. The ACCC is also pushing for higher penalties to be awarded in relation to breaches of the CCA and is actively looking to increase criminal prosecution of cartel conduct. As of February 2019, there are three criminal cartel cases before the court.