The Final Report of the Competition Policy Review was recently released after the current government requested that Professor Ian Harper conduct an expert review of competition policy.

The Final Report makes 56 recommendations for reforms across three key areas: competition policy, laws and institutions.

Some of the recommendations made in the report include:

• Changing the ACCC’s institutional arrangements and the creation of a new body, the Australian Council for Competition Policy to provide for innovation and leadership in competition policy agenda;
• In regards to the misuse of market power the report suggests that the legislation be redrafted to prohibit corporations with a large degree of marker power engaging in conduct that has the likely effect of substantially lessening competition; and;
• No recommendations were made for changes to the current treatment of merger clearance, being the rule that prohibits anti-competitive mergers. However, it was suggested that the authorisation process should be streamlined.

The focus of the consultation is to seek feedback from industry, consumers and all levels of government on the final recommendations to strengthen Australia’s Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).