The Trade Practices Act 1974 is an act of the Parliament of Australia. The Act performs a variety of functions, most importantly it encourages competition within the market (i.e. through the antitrust provisions) and prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct. Look up Act on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Act may refer to: in law, a written document that attests the legality of the transaction. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Parliament of Australia is the legislative branch of Australia. ... Street markets such as this one in Rue Mouffetard, Paris are still common in France. ... Jump to: navigation, search It has been suggested that competition law be merged into this article or section. ...

Restrictive Trade Practices Provisions s45-50A

The restrictive trade practices provisions in the Trade Practices Act are aimed at deterring practices by firms which are anti-competitive in that they restrict free competition. This part of the act is enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in the federal court who can seek pecuniary penalties of $10million from corporations and $500,000 from individuals. Private actions for compensation may also be available. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent Australian commonwealth government authority established in 1995 to protect consumer rights, business rights and obligations, perform industry regulation and price monitoring and prevent unauthorised anti-competitive behaviour. ...

These provisions prohibit:

- most price agreements

- Primary boycotts (an agreement between parties to exclude another)

- Secondary boycotts whose purpose is to cause substantial lose or damage or lower competition (Actions btw two persons engaging in conduct hindering 3rd person from supplying or acquiring goods or services from 4th)

- Misuse of market power – taking advantage to eliminate or damage actual or potential competitor, preventing entry, or lowering competition.

- Exclusive dealing – attempt to interfere with freedom of buyers to buy from other suppliers - Third-line forcing: Supply goods or services on condition that acquire goods/services from another supplier even a related company

- Resale price maintenance – fixing a price below which resellers can’t sell or advertise

There are some exceptions to these provisions which allow the ACCC to authorize these agreements/activities if there is sufficient disclosure to the ACCC and it is in the public interest. There are procedures that must be followed and some legislative requirements in the act.

This part of the act also gives the ACCC supervisory powers over mergers, requiring that some mergers be in the public benefit. This has been a controversial part of the act and may be subject to amendment in the future.

Access regime – Part IIIA of TPA

This part of the Trade Practices Act deals with third party access to services of facilities of national significance. For example, it covers access to electricity grids or natural gas pipelines. The aim of this part of the act is to encourage competition in upstream or downstream markets.

This part of the act allows services to be ‘declared’ and for parties to negotiate terms and conditions of access. The National Competition Council and the ACCC are both involved in registering agreement and assessing what is fair (to owners, to public, to users). As an alternative non-declared services may be subject to ACCC undertakings.

Telecommunications Part XIB and Part XIC

This part of the act prohibits anti-competitive conduct in telecommunications industry. It allows the ACCC to issue competition notices which, if breached, allow the ACCC to seek an injunction and penalty through the Federal Court.

Part XIC is a telecommunications-specific regime for facilitating access network, allowing the ACCC to declare services.

Prices surveillance, Notification, and Monitoring Part VIIA

Part VIIA enables the ACCC to examine the prices of selected goods and services in the Australian economy. The

The ACCC’s functions under this part are:

- Hold price inquiries in relation to the supply of goods or services, and to publicly report the findings to the responsible Commonwealth minister

- To examine proposed price rises on ‘notified’ goods, subject to instruction from Minister. This allows some control over price rises

- To monitor the prices, costs and profits of an industry or business under the direction of the minister and to publicly report the results to the minister.

Consumer protection Part V and Part VC

Part VC replicates Part V of the act but provides criminal penalties. Part V provides civil penalties for the same acts.

These parts deal with: - unfair practices—Part V, Division 1 and Part VC, Division 2

- product safety and information—Part V, Division 1A and Part VC, Division 3

- conditions and warranties—Part V, Division 2

- actions against manufacturers/importers—Part V, Division 2A

- product liability—Part VA

The aim of this section is slightly different to the rest of the act. It is based on the proposition that low consumer power or lack of information is a market failure which needs to be addressed by interference in the market.

One of the most important parts of this part is s52 on misleading and deceptive conduct.

This encyclopedia entry is not legal advice.

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