What the ACCC does
- We receive and assess notifications.
- We give businesses general guidance on the notification process.
What the ACCC can't do
- We don’t give advice about whether a planned arrangement would break the law.
Notification is one process for gaining an exemption.
A business can notify the ACCC if conduct it is planning will or may breach competition law.
Notification can be used for exclusive dealing and resale price maintenance. It can also be used for some collective bargaining and collective boycotts.
Notification is a public process, but businesses can ask to keep some information confidential.
A business requires an exemption from the ACCC when it's planning an arrangement that will or may breach competition rules in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
Notification is one way to gain this exemption. The process involves notifying the ACCC of the arrangement. It removes the risk of legal action for the arrangement.
Notification is usually simpler and faster than the authorisation process. However, notification is only allowed for certain conduct.
Businesses are responsible for assessing their own risk and deciding whether to seek an exemption. They may want to get independent legal advice.
A business planning an exclusive dealing arrangement that may substantially lessen competition can seek an exemption by lodging a notification.
A supplier that believes a particular instance of resale price maintenance to be in the public interest can seek an exemption by lodging a notification.
For collective boycotts, and for collective bargaining that is not covered by the class exemption, businesses can generally seek an exemption by lodging a notification.
However, authorisation is needed for trade unions and for businesses that expect to make transactions worth more than $3 million over 12 months under the collective bargaining arrangement.
Any of the businesses involved in the planned arrangement can lodge a notification on behalf of all participating businesses.
An industry association can also lodge a notification on behalf of members.
Before lodging a notification, we encourage businesses to contact us for a discussion. We can give general guidance on:
Contact the ACCC on 02 6243 1368 or at exemptions@accc.gov.au.
Prepare a document with the information set out in the Notification of proposed collective bargaining, exclusive dealing or resale price maintenance guide and form.
For detailed guidance on preparing each type of notification, read the relevant guidelines:
Notification is a transparent public process. Notification documents are published online on our public registers.
However, businesses can ask to exclude confidential information from the public register. In these cases, they must also provide a public version of the notification with enough information to allow us to consult with stakeholders.
The lodgement fee is:
Concessional fees may apply for closely related notifications lodged within 14 days of the first notification.
We prefer payment to be made by electronic funds transfer to:
Account name: ACCC Administered receipts account
Bank: Westpac Banking Corporation
BSB: 032-730
Account number: 146550
Payment narrative: <name of company> <form name e.g. Form G>
Payment can also be made:
Notifications can be lodged electronically through the Authorisations and notifications web form.
Alternatively, submit the notification by post or in person at an ACCC office.
Changes cannot be made to the notification once it has been submitted. However, it can be withdrawn at any time by telling us in writing.
Once we have received a notification, we first make sure it is valid. We then begin our assessment and publish the notification on the relevant public register:
To assess a notification, we will review the information provided. We may also ask for more information and consult with stakeholders.
There are different criteria to assess notifications depending on which provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 may be breached.
We assess collective bargaining, collective boycott and resale price maintenance only for whether the likely benefit to the public from the planned arrangement is likely to outweigh the likely detriment to the public from the notified conduct.
We assess exclusive dealing for whether:
After assessing a notification, we will decide to either:
If we decide to revoke a notification, we will first issue a draft notice objecting to the notification and saying why we plan to revoke the notification. The applicant and other stakeholders can respond before a final decision on whether to revoke is made.
After a valid notification has been lodged, legal protection begins:
This legal protection is provided by default, unless the ACCC takes action to stop it by objecting to or revoking the notification.