What the ACCC does
- We enforce water market rules.
- We publish guidance material for these water rules.
What the ACCC can't do
- We don’t regulate water allocation and entitlement markets.
- We don’t resolve individual disputes.
On this page
About the water market rules
Sometimes irrigators want to permanently transform their irrigation right:
- into a new statutory water access entitlement, or
- onto an existing, statutory water access entitlement.
The power to transform irrigation rights comes from state legislation.
The ACCC enforces water market rules that provide protections for those irrigators that want to permanently transform their irrigation right.
After irrigation rights are transformed, an irrigator can:
- hold the entitlement in their own name
- trade the entitlement
- be free of any trade restrictions imposed by an irrigation infrastructure operator.
Guidance for operators of irrigation infrastructure
Compliance and enforcement guide
This guide helps operators understand how we will respond to possible contraventions of the rules and the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
This guide helps operators of water infrastructure in the Murray-Darling Basin understand our role and approach to enforcing the rules.
Application of the rules
This guidance has been designed to help irrigation infrastructure operators understand if and how the water market rules apply to them. It is not legal advice.
Transformation processes and application fees
This guidance has been designed to support irrigation infrastructure operators to develop and implement policies related to transformation processes and transformation application fees that comply with the water market rules. It is not legal advice.
Irrigation infrastructure operators are obliged to process transformations within the time period specified in Rule 14 of the water market rules.
We have developed guidance to help irrigators and operators understand their rights and obligations under the water market rules. It does not form legal advice.
Dispute resolution
This guidance has been designed to support irrigation infrastructure operators to develop dispute resolution policies that comply with the water market rules. It is not legal advice.
Security
This guidance has been designed to support irrigation infrastructure operators to develop and implement policies related to security that comply with the water market rules. It is not legal advice.
Fixed network losses
This guidance has been designed to help irrigation infrastructure operators develop and implement policies related to fixed network losses that comply with the water market rules. It is not legal advice.