Cartels | History
Overview
The current cartel laws were introduced by the Trade Practices Amendment (Cartel Conduct and Other Measures) Act 2009 and came into operation on 24 July 2009.
These laws were part of the package of reforms which separately defined cartel conduct and created an offence together with parallel civil cartel prohibitions. These collectively replaced the former s 45A which dealt directly with price-fixing.
The reforms were initially recommend by the Dawson Committee as part of its 2002-2003 inquiry into the Competition Law provisions of the Trade Practices Act.
A full history of the cartel laws and the former s 45A will follow shortly.
Future: Harper Recommendations
The Harper Review Final Report recommended significant changes designed to simplify Australia's cartel laws. View overview of recommendations and government response (PDF). Legislation has been introduced into Parliament to implement some of these changes and is expected to pass in October 2017. View the Competition and Consumer (Competition Policy Reform) Bill 2017.
