The Commonwealth Government has introduced into the Parliament the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 to implement changes previously announced.
The amendments will:
- ensure that victims of predatory pricing will not need to
prove that the predator has the ability to recoup losses after
participating in an anticompetitive, below cost pricing strategy. -
clarify the meaning of the term ‘take advantage’ in section 46 in
response to concerns that the present meaning of that term has
prevented section 46 from capturing anticompetitive behaviour.
The Bill amends the Trade Practices Act to require that at least one
of the Deputy Chairpersons of the ACCC have knowledge of, or experience
in, small business matters. It also extends the jurisdiction of the
Federal Magistrates Court to cases involving alleged breaches of
section 46 of the Trade Practices Act.
The Bill also removes the existing arbitrary monetary threshold
currently that applies to allegations of unconscionable conduct in
business transactions.