National Access Regime: New Bill Ineffective to Speed Up Part II A Declaration Process

In February this year we provided an outline of the proposed amendments to the National Access Regime in Part II A of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (Act). Those changes are contained in the Trade Practices Amendment (Infrastructure Access) Bill 2009. Since our last update, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee has recommended the Bill be passed.

The reforms are advanced by the Government as being designed to speed up the Part IIIA declaration process and decrease costs for participants in that process. The Explanatory Memorandum and Second Reading Speech note that delays in decision making under the regime have been a significant concern to infrastructure owners, access seekers and regulators and that there have been complaints that processes under the regime are too lengthy and costly. While it may be the aim of the reforms to address those criticisms, the reforms may fall short of doing so.