A Discussion Paper on E-Commerce and Competition Issues under the Trade Practices Act has been issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.
"The Paper identifies potential competitive opportunities and threats of e-commerce for Australian businesses and raises questions about how the Act can deal with those issues for public consideration", he said.
"In conjunction with the issuing of the Discussion Paper, the ACCC will hold a two- day conference on e-commerce issues on 19 to 20 November in Melbourne.
"Day One focuses on consumer expectations, best practice models for business in business-to-consumer transactions and the role of regulators. Day Two draws together industry, economists and legal practitioners to consider the competition issues raised in the Discussion Paper and other associated issues.
"Technological innovation and the rapid growth of the Information Economy are driving the development of an increasing number of online services.
"Now that the initial hype surrounding the New Economy has steadied, businesses are getting down to the serious task of identifying the role the Internet will play in their strategies and how to integrate online activities.
"The opportunities are still there. We are not seeing the same number of announcements about new electronic services that we were seeing a year ago, but many businesses are working on getting the details right to take advantage of the transactional efficiencies and greater competitive opportunities arising from e-commerce.
"At the same time it is important to identify competitive issues that may arise in e-commerce in order to ensure that these potential benefits are realised.
"This Discussion Paper will help to generate meaningful dialogue between the ACCC, other government agencies, industry, and consumer groups about these issues. This is part of a continuing process for both industry and the ACCC to learn more about e-commerce and discuss how competition laws can best serve the welfare of Australians in this area of commercial activity.
"There has been a great deal of general debate about how competition laws should operate in high technology markets. Now is the time to look fairly closely at what the issues really are and how the Australian laws operate in these areas.
"It is also an important step in considering how the advent of e-commerce may change the way that the ACCC analyses markets and market definition in traditional markets", Professor Fels said.
To assist in developing the Discussion Paper, the ACCC commissioned an economic analysis of the competitive implications of electronic marketplaces. The report, Competition Issues Associated with B2B E-Commerce, prepared by Professor Joshua Gans and Professor Stephen King, is available, together with the Discussion Paper, on the ACCC's website in the what's new section.
To obtain further information about the forthcoming ACCC E-Commerce Conference, Practising.Trade, or to obtain a copy of the Discussion Paper or the Gans and King report, please contact Kirstin Stannard on (02) 6243 1170.