Month: December 2012

Restaurants avoid second serving

December 18, 2012 | 2 Comments

The Commonwealth Government is proposing to amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and Competition and Consumer Regulations 2010 to exclude restaurant and café surcharges from the single pricing requirement in the Australian Consumer Law...

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Shedding light on the pre-assessment process

December 17, 2012 | 1 Comments

Since 2010, the ACCC has been conducting what it terms ‘pre-assessments’ of mergers. Pre-assessments refer to an assessment of a merger ‘on the papers’, as distinct to a substantive investigation of the merger under the...

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The bell has been rung on Electrabel

December 14, 2012 | 0 Comments

On 12 December 2012, the European Union General Court threw the book at Belgian energy company Electrabel by upholding a decision by the European Commission (EC) to fine the company €20 million for failure to...

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Co-operate and $ave

December 14, 2012 | 1 Comments

On 6 December 2012, the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) issued a Final Decision against the Cameron Highlands Floriculturist Association, confirming its earlier finding (in its Proposed Decision, which we blogged about here) that the Association...

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Acquisitions protocol less than ACCC desires

December 12, 2012 | 2 Comments

The ACCC has reached only limited agreement with one of the major supermarket chains, Coles (owned by Wesfarmers), regarding a voluntary streamlined notification and assessment protocol for small retail acquisitions. The ACCC had proposed that...

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Growing the penalty pie

December 12, 2012 | 0 Comments

The value of a Commonwealth penalty unit is set to increase for the first time in 15 years.  Penalty units are used to determine the amount payable for criminal and civil penalties under a range...

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And then there were two…

December 12, 2012 | 2 Comments

Two more airlines, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines Cargo, have settled with the ACCC in the air cargo litigation.  The airlines are the eleventh and twelfth airlines to settle, leaving only Air New Zealand and...

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Rocky road ahead

December 10, 2012 | 0 Comments

Cadbury, Hershey, Mars and Nestlé, which collectively account for 76% of the chocolate market in the US, have been sued by a grocery wholesaler for price-fixing in the District Court of Kansas. The action was...

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It’s not often that you get to read a case and browse a funky swimwear collection at the same time but this case really has it all – bikinis, trails of Facebook comments, and Justice...

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Reform has a new top dog

December 7, 2012 | 0 Comments

The new chairman of the Productivity Commission, Peter Harris, has an interesting road ahead of him with a number of early challenges.  Luckily, he’s no stranger to difficult reform. His career has spanned many sectors...

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