Executive Summary
2. On 22 May 2006 the Minister of Commerce announced that the clearance and authorisation provisions under part 5 of the Commerce Act will be reviewed. The overall objective of the Review is to ensure that these provisions are operating as efficiently and effectively as possible.
3. The Review of the Clearance and Authorisation Provisions under the Commerce Act 1986 ("Part 5") is being done in tandem with the Review of the Regulatory Control Provisions of the Commerce Act 1986 ("Parts 4 and 4A"). Final policy proposals on Parts 4 and 4A are to be delivered to Cabinet in October 2007 and final policy proposals on Part 5 are due in November 2007.
4. Submissions on the review of Part 5 indicate that while there are some administrative and low level policy issues that can be progressed quickly, there are several issues that are more contentious than originally envisaged and require additional time to develop robust policy proposals. The main areas requiring further research, consultation and analysis relate to collective bargaining by small businesses, whether a clearance system for trade practices is needed more generally and the linkages between these two issues. This combined with a lack of detailed information and clarity from the submissions as to the existence and extent of the problem means that the original timeframe of November 2007, for delivery of policy proposals around Part 5, cannot be met.
5. Thus, it is proposed to separate the review of Part 5 into two stages, with the uncontroversial policy proposals within the review being addressed this year through the Regulatory Improvement Omnibus Bill, and final policy proposals on the outstanding issues being delivered by 30 June 2008.
6. Three amendments to the Commerce Act 1986 have been identified for inclusion in the Regulatory Improvement Omnibus Bill. These are:
- Providing for the effective enforcement of undertakings that have been approved as part of a merger clearance or authorisation decision;
- Allowing the Commission to approve variations to undertakings;
- Removing the 20 day statutory timeframe for holding conferences for restrictive trade practice authorisation proceedings.
7. A further issue, whether the court cases in which lay members can be appointed should be widened, has also been analysed within this review, with the conclusion that the current provisions remain the most suitable and appropriate.
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