The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has granted interim authorisation to enable the Homeworkers Code of Practice to continue in its current form while the ACCC considers the applications for reauthorisation of the code, as the existing authorisations granted in 2011 are due to expire on 11 March 2013.
The code is a voluntary agreement between participating retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, warehouses and fashion houses to ensure compliance with minimum conditions regarding the employment of homeworkers in the fashion industry. The code and its accreditation system are overseen by Ethical Clothing Australia (on behalf of the Homeworker Code Committee).
“Since the code was first authorised by the ACCC in 2000, a number of businesses have chosen to comply with the code either by becoming retail signatories, or seeking accreditation as suppliers,” ACCC Deputy Chair Dr Michael Schaper said.
“Granting interim authorisation will allow the existing arrangements to continue until the ACCC makes a decision on the applications for reauthorisation of the code.”
Authorisation provides statutory protection from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under certain competition provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.
Interim authorisation may be granted where the ACCC considers it appropriate to allow the parties to engage in the conduct while the ACCC is considering the substantive application for authorisation. In deciding to grant interim authorisation to enable the code to continue in its current form, the ACCC took into account submissions which had been received from interested parties.
An application to vary the applications for authorisation has now been received by the ACCC, proposing a revised Code. As part of its formal authorisation process, the ACCC will soon be seeking submissions from interested parties regarding the applications to authorise the revised Code for a further period of time.
Following this consultation process, the ACCC will issue a draft determination outlining its preliminary assessment of the matter, and interested parties will be invited to provide further submissions to the ACCC, and may request a pre-decision conference.
The code has been developed by the HWCC and its predecessor organisations. It is not an industry code (voluntary or mandatory) which has been gazetted for the purposes of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.