Regulations made under section 32B of the Australian Postal Corporation Act, 1989 allow the ACCC to inquire into disputes about the terms and conditions, including price of access to Australia Post’s bulk mail services.
The intent of these provisions, as stated in the explanatory memorandum to the Postal Services Legislation Amendment Bill, 2003, is to ensure that ‘persons who use bulk mail services receive fair and reasonable terms and conditions in relation to the supply of those services’.
Draft guide to ACCC inquiries into bulk mail disputes
On 10 August 2012 the ACCC released a draft guide on how the ACCC would inquire into potential disputes between Australia Post and users of its bulk mail services.
The purpose of the draft guide is to inform the public and stakeholders about how the ACCC will conduct an inquiry into a bulk mail dispute. The ACCC considers that having a guide will help an inquiry to proceed in a timely and efficient manner.
The ACCC invited submissions from interested parties by 5pm 21 September 2012.
On 14 December 2012 the ACCC released a final guide on how the ACCC would inquire into potential disputes between Australia Post and users of its bulk mail services. The final guide took into account information provided to it by all of the organisations that lodged submissions with the ACCC following the release of the draft guide.
