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ARTICLE · 28 MARCH 2014

The test for declaration of Australian infrastructure under third party access legislation is dead - long live the new test!

DLA Piper Australia
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The Government should take time afforded by the root and branch review to further consider the National Access Regime.

AustraliaAntitrust/Competition Law
Simon Uthmeyer
Simon Uthmeyer
David Peters
David Peters

Competition and Market Regulation Update (Australia)

The Federal Government released the Productivity Commission's (PC) final report (Report) on the National Access Regime on 11 February 2014. The Report proposes yet another test for the controversial 'criterion (b)'. However it is not clear that the new test would have the effect that the PC envisages in circumstances such as those in the Fortescue cases. The Federal Government has said that it will respond to the Report following the upcoming 'root and branch' review of competition policy.

So, you may ask: where is the National Access Regime headed? How will State based access regimes be affected in the meantime?

Our views in short are:

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