Trans-Tasman antitrust regulator info-sharing bill stalled

Tuesday 17th April 2012

Legislation enabling antitrust regulators on both sides of the Tasman to share information has been held up due to the New Zealand government’s heavy programme, slowing progress on a key step toward a single economic market.

The Commerce Commission (International Cooperation and Fees) Bill has been languishing on the order paper since it was first introduced in September 2008, having passed its first reading in May 2010. Once passed, the bill will let the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Commerce Commission and other foreign antitrust regulators share confidential information for enforcement efforts.

“The government has had a significant legislative programme in the past few years which has unfortunately meant that the (bill) has progressed at a slower pace than originally anticipated,” Commerce Minister Craig Foss told BusinessDesk in an emailed statement. “The government’s intention is that the bill be passed by the end of this year.”

The hold-up was one of two short-term delays flagged in the February Trans-Tasman Outcomes Implementation Group (TTOIG) report released last week, and leaves a hole in aligning competition policy between the two nations. The other delay was in letting registered auditors operate in either country, which is scheduled to kick off in July.

The antitrust legislation was 11th out of 56 government motions on the April 5 Order Paper when Parliament last sat, a year and a half after the Commerce Committee reported back on the bill in November 2010.

Australia’s Federal Parliament passed amendments in 2007 enabling the ACCC to share confidential information with overseas regulators, and a memorandum of understanding needs to be signed with the Commerce Commission to formalise the deal.

The TTOIG was set up in 2009 to speed up the creation of a single economic market by aligning a range of areas in business law, and seeks to achieve medium-term goals by the end of 2014.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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