Introduction
The prohibition against price signalling has now passed both
houses of parliament and will come into force on 6 June 2012. As
reported by Norton Rose Australia in December 20101, the
amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) seek to
address perceived concerns that the law as it stood did not
sufficiently prevent the signalling of price intentions between
competitors, particularly financial institutions, with the
objective or effect of distorting competition.
The new price signalling provisions prohibit private disclosures
of price information to a competitor in the same market, and
further, prohibit non-private price disclosure if it is for the
purpose of substantially lessening competition. There are many
exceptions that apply to both prohibitions, and importantly, where
private disclosure of price is in the "ordinary course of
business", such disclosure will not be caught by the
prohibition.
