A draft guide to access undertakings under the Trade Practices Act has been released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The draft guide is designed to assist owners and operators of essential facilities, potential third party users of such facilities and other interested parties understand and use access undertakings.
In releasing the draft guide the ACCC aims to promote discussion and comments on the issue before releasing a final guide. Part IIIA of the Act establishes a legal regime to facilitate access to the services of certain facilities of national significance. It introduces a new field of regulatory responsibilities and access rights which will have a significant impact on the provision of services that are critical to competition in related markets.
The ACCC will play an important administrative and regulatory role in the implementation of Part IIIA. It has a role in arbitration of disputes over access to facilities declared to be essential under the terms of the Act. It also has a role in the assessment of undertakings by owners/operators of facilities. Once the Commission accepts an undertaking the service in question can no longer be declared.
In order to promote understanding about the new Part IIIA provisions the ACCC has released a number of publications and continues to develop others. The first, titled Access Regime - a guide to Part IIIA of The Trade Practices Act, was intended as a user-friendly explanation of the new legislation for the information of facilities owners, users and other interested parties. Subsequent guides will focus more closely on the Commission's specific arbitration and undertaking assessment roles under Part IIIA. The draft Access Undertakings Guide provides a broad overview of Part IIIA and access undertakings. It also:
sets out procedures for assessment and lodgement of access undertakings; provides an overview of the legislative criteria for assessment of undertakings and the main factors that the Commission will take into account in applying them; and provides guidelines on what an owner/operator of a facility should include in an undertaking.
The draft guide comes in two parts. The main part Access Undertakings: A Draft Guide to Access Undertakings Under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act covers the issues in detail. Access Undertakings: An Overview provides an overview of the access regime established by Part IIIA, the role of undertakings in the access regime and a summary of the main guide.
In publishing the draft access undertakings guide the ACCC aims to promote discussion and comment on the issues. The ACCC recognises the complexity of issues involved in applying Part IIIA and sees such feedback as important in formulating its approach to undertakings. The Commission will use feedback to revise and refine the guidelines and its approach to undertakings. The guide costs $10 and is available from all ACCC offices.
Further Information: Ms Lin Enright, Director, Public Relations, (06) 264 2808 or (018) 632 526
