The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has consented to Co-operative Bulk Handling Limited’s (CBH) application to extend and vary its 2011 wheat Port Terminal Services Access Undertaking (2011 Undertaking).
The decision was made under the current access undertaking regime. However, a mandatory Wheat Port Code of Conduct is anticipated to commence next week on 30 September 2014. If the code does commence as expected, CBH’s legislative requirement to have a Port Terminal Services Access Undertaking will be repealed.
CBH applied to extend the 2011 Undertaking for a year in case the code does not commence and its legislative requirement to have an undertaking remains.
The provisions are essentially unchanged from the previous provisions governing third-party access in CBH’s 2011 undertaking.
CBH had previously proposed a new undertaking to govern access arrangements from when the 2011 Undertaking was to expire. However, that proposal, which sought to introduce long term agreements for port capacity, was withdrawn by CBH.
Aside from not including long term agreements, CBH’s application to extend and vary its 2011 Undertaking otherwise retains the majority of the provisions currently in place. It continues the annual auction process for an additional year.
The code remains subject to a 15 sitting day period of disallowance from the date of tabling. Accordingly, the ACCC has made the decision under the existing regime in order to ensure continuity of access arrangements and ensure CBH’s entitlement to export bulk wheat from 1 October 2014. Should the code commence as expected, the 2011 Undertaking will expire.
For the ACCC's final decision, see CBH 2011 Undertaking.