The Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Act 2010(CACS Act) removes the access dispute provisions from the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) from 1 January 2011. However, the transitional provisions of the CACS Act provide that a party may still notify an access dispute to the ACCC in relation to a declared service until a final access determination is made in relation to the declared service.
The ACCC may decide to publish an interim or final determination that it has made in an arbitration. A statement of reasons for the determination may also be published.
The TPA requires that where the ACCC proposes to publish a determination the ACCC must consult with the parties to that arbitration. Each party has 14 days to provide a written submission identifying any parts that should not be published along with the party’s reasons for that view.
The legislation also provides that when making its decision to publish a determination the ACCC must consider:
- submissions from the parties
- whether publication would be likely to promote competition in markets for listed carriage services
- whether publication would be likely to facilitate the operation of Part XIC of the Act, and
- any other matter the ACCC considers relevant.
The ACCC has decided to publish the following determinations.