National Retail Association Limited on behalf of itself and participating industry organisations

On 12 May 2020, the National Retail Association Limited, Australian Hotels Association, Franchise Council of Australia Limited, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Australian Newsagents’ Federation Limited and Australian Federation of Travel Agents Limited (the Applicants) applied for authorisation on behalf of their current and future members.

The Applicants have applied for authorisation to enable their tenant members who have been adversely affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic to discuss, share information and collectively negotiate with landlords regarding the support to be provided to tenants by landlords (the Proposed Tenant Conduct). The Applicants have also applied for authorisation to enable their landlord members to discuss and share information and make and give effect to agreements as to the nature of the relief to be offered to small and medium-sized enterprise tenants or classes of such tenants by landlords (the Proposed Landlord Conduct).

On 19 May 2020, the ACCC granted urgent interim authorisation for the Proposed Tenant Conduct and the Proposed Landlord Conduct.

On 2 July, the ACCC issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation until 1 September 2021, subject to record keeping and reporting conditions. The draft determination also replaces the interim authorisation granted on 19 May 2020 with a new interim authorisation. The full draft determination document is linked below.

On 6 August 2020, the ACCC issued a determination granting conditional authorisation to the Applicants to give effect to the Proposed Tenant Conduct and the Proposed Landlord Conduct. Authorisation has been granted until 1 September 2021.