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ARTICLE · 29 SEPTEMBER 2015

Competition Review: September 2015

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This newsletter is a review of recent enforcement, merger, authorisation and ACCC developments relating to competition.

AustraliaAntitrust/Competition Law
Eddie Scuderi
Eddie Scuderi
Mark McCowan
Mark McCowan
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RECENT ENFORCEMENT DEVELOPMENTS

Visa ordered to pay $18 million penalty for anti-competitive conduct following ACCC action

On 4 September 2015, in proceedings brought by the ACCC, the Federal Court ordered Visa Worldwide Pte Ltd (Visa Worldwide) to pay a pecuniary penalty of $18 million for exclusive dealing conduct, in contravention of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA), after the parties reached an agreement and Visa admitted to this contravention on the eve of the trial. Visa was also ordered to pay $2 million towards the ACCC's costs.

During the period 1 May 2010 to 6 October 2010, Visa Worldwide implemented and maintained a moratorium by making changes to the Visa rules which prohibited the further expansion of the supply of Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) services on point of sale (POS) transactions on the Visa network by its rival suppliers of currency conversion services in many parts of the world, including in Australia. This

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