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• Commerce Act Pts 4/4A/5 Review

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• Cabinet Paper 2008-10-09
• Cabinet Paper 2006-09-13

45. It is recommended that the Committee

1. 1. Note that the Commerce Act was substantively amended in 2001. The amendments included strengthening the thresholds in Parts 2 and 3 to improve consistency with the Australian regime. These thresholds are not proposed to be examined in the Review of Parts 4 and 5 of the Commerce Act;
2. 2. Note that Parts 4 and 5 contain generic regulatory control provisions and provisions relating to the authorisation and clearance of restrictive trade practices and business acquisitions. The Review of Parts 4 and 5 of the Commerce Act was announced by the Minister of Commerce on 22 May 2006;
3. 3. Note that Part 4A of the Commerce Act allows for electricity lines businesses to be controlled if they breach certain thresholds. The current Review of Parts 4 and 5 of the Commerce Act provides a timely opportunity to also review Part 4A, given the many linkages between Parts 4, 4A and 5;
4. 4. Agree to the inclusion of Part 4A in the Review of Regulatory Control Provisions in the Commerce Act;
5. 5. Note that any legislative amendments that result from the Review will not come into effect until 2008 at the earliest, and therefore the inclusion of Part 4A will not affect the outcome of current regulatory processes (viz., the Commerce Commission's consideration of control in respect of Vector, Unison Networks, and Transpower);
6. 6. Invite the Minister of Commerce and Minister of Energy to issue a joint media statement that clarifies the scope of the Review and explains the rationale for including Part 4A in the Review;
7. 7. Agree that work on the design and introduction of the new gas thresholds regime and enhancements to the gas information disclosure regime be deferred until the Review of Regulatory Control Provisions is complete;
8. 8. Direct officials to report back to Cabinet with a draft discussion document on the Review of Regulatory Control Provisions by the end of January 2007; and
9. 9. Direct officials to report back to Cabinet with a draft discussion document on the Review of Authorisation and Clearance Provisions by the end of March 2007.