Executive Summary
Introduction
In April we issued a discussion document relating to the regulatory control provisions that appear in Parts 4, 4A and sections 70-74 of the Commerce Act. This latest discussion document complements the earlier discussion document by looking at Part 5 other than sections 70-74. Part 5 allows the Commerce Commission (the Commission) to clear a merger if it considers that the merger is not anticompetitive or authorise a merger or trade practice on the grounds that it is of benefit to the public. In effect, the authorisation test is primarily an efficiency exception to most of the competition tests appearing in the Act.1
This discussion document does not fundamentally question the clearance and authorisation systems. Rather, the aim is to test whether some possible changes could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of those systems. 19 issues are addressed, five relating to mergers, six to trade practices, three to legal process affecting both mergers and trade practices and five to the framework for assessing costs and benefits.
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