Consultation on revised application13 Apr 2011

The ACCC consulted on ARTC's revised undertaking application from 13 April 2011 to 11 May 2011.

ARTC further revised applications

ARTC submitted further revisions and some drafting refinements to its proposed access undertaking to the ACCC on 17 May 2011. The revisions relate to:

  • consistency in System Assumptions (as between HVCCC and ARTC);
  • Network Exit Capability and certainty of Coal Chain Capacity;
  • the audit of the True-Up Test (TUT);
  • the determination of the efficient train configuration;
  • voting rights in the Rail Capacity Group (RCG) for uncontracted parties;
  • the review of the HVAU after five years; and
  • mutually exclusive access applications.

While not part of the proposed undertaking itself, ARTC's explanatory document also noted that ARTC would provide advice to industry in the near future on transitional arrangements.

ACCC further extension

On 8 June 2011, the ACCC agreed, in accordance with section 44ZZBC(4) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, to ARTC’s request to disregard the period from 8 June 2011 to 28 June 2011 (inclusive) for the purposes of working out the expected period within which the ACCC must make a decision on the proposed undertaking. This means that the statutory timeframe for decision-making is now extended to 30 June 2011.

Submissions on ARTC's further revisions

ARTC submitted further revisions to its proposed access undertaking on 17 May 2011. ARTC advised that it had put forward the revisions following discussions with representatives of a number of existing Hunter Valley export coal producers.

The ACCC welcomed this direct engagement between ARTC and stakeholders. However, the ACCC also acknowledged that parties not involved in those discussions required an opportunity to comment on the suggested revisions.

Consequently, while the consultation period ended on 11 May 2011, the ACCC continued to accept submissions from interested parties on the further revisions provided by ARTC.