Issue K: Conference Procedures
Background
147. The Act provides for Commission conferences to be held in relation to clearance and authorisation applications. The relevant provisions are as follows:
- Section 64, which describes the procedures for conferences;
- Section 62, which relates to restrictive trade practice authorisation applications; and
- Section 69B, which relates to merger clearance and authorisation applications.
148. Sections 62(6) and 69B(1) allow the Commission to call a conference of its own motion. Sections 62(3)-(5) allow the applicant or any other person who has been sent the draft determination to require the Commission to hold a conference, but only in relation to trade practice authorisation applications.
149. The main purpose of a conference is to provide the Commission with an effective means for obtaining information that will help it make a high quality decision. To this end, section 64(3) states that the Commission shall provide for as little formality and technicality as the requirements of the Act and a proper consideration of the application permits. This provision is aimed at ensuring that the Commission can make good use of the time available by avoiding the adversarial processes that are generally associated with more formal hearings and focusing conferences on the competition and public benefit issues.
The issues
150. There are two issues, both of which relate only to the trade practices authorisation process. One is whether the applicant and/or third parties should be able to require the Commission to hold a conference. This issue needs to be assessed conceptually because there have been no cases where this has happened. The other issue relates to whether the timeframes that are specified for two of the steps of the restrictive trade practice authorisation system are useful.
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