Draft Report of Productivity Commission Inquiry into the National Access Regime

Submission Date: 16 July 2013

The Competition and Consumer Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (the Committee) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Productivity Commission (Commission) in relation to its draft report on its inquiry into the National Access Regime published in May 2013 (Draft Report). This submission should be read in conjunction with the Committee’s earlier submission published on 20 February 2013, which commented on various aspects of the Commission’s inquiry:

• the operation of criterion (b) (that could be uneconomical for anyone to duplicate the facility) and criterion (f) (that access would not be contrary to the public interest);
• the processes for certification of State based assess regimes; and
• the appropriateness of the current institutional arrangements for consideration of applications for declaration and review of declaration decisions.

The Committee chose to focus on those issues in part because of their current relevance in light of the High Court’s decision in Pilbara Infrastructure¹ but also because it considered these to be areas where legal considerations may play a significant part such that the Committee may be able to best assist the Commission in its considerations. The Committee welcomes the Commission’s consideration of the Committee’s submissions on the Draft Report and proposes to adopt a similar although more narrowly focused approach in its submissions on the Draft Report. Representatives of the Committee would be happy to discuss or expand upon these submissions at the Commission’s public hearings on 29 July 2013 if that would be of assistance.

^{1 The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Ltd v Australian Competition Tribunal [2012] HCA 36.}

Last Updated on 09/05/2025

Share

• Share this on Twitter
• Share this on LinkedIn
• Share this on Facebook

Related Documents

• Submission: Draft Report of Productivity Commission Inquiry into the National Access Regime (PDF).

Tags

• Submissions Competition and Consumer Law Business Law

Most recent items in Business Law Section

Trending Items in Business Law Section