Competition Litigation 2012 - Arnold Bloch Leibler

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The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Competition Litigation 2012General Chapter:1 The European Commission's White Paper on Damages Actions: The English Experience -Arundel McDougall, James Levy & Lauren Bernard, Ashurst LLP 1Contributing EditorsArundel McDougall &James Levy, Ashurst LLPAccount ManagersMonica Fuertes, DrorLevy, Florjan Osmani,Oliver Smith, Rory Smith,Toni WyattSub EditorsSuzie KiddJodie MablinSenior EditorPenny SmaleManaging EditorAlan FalachDeputy PublisherGeorge ArcherPublisherRichard FirthPublished byGlobal Legal Group Ltd.59 Tanner StreetLondon SE1 3PL, UKTel: +44 20 7367 0720Fax: +44 20 7407 5255Email: info@glgroup.co.ukURL: www.glgroup.co.ukGLG Cover DesignF&F Studio DesignGLG Cover Image SourceiStockphotoPrinted byAshford Colour Press LtdSeptember 2011Copyright © 2011Global Legal Group Ltd.All rights reservedNo photocopyingISBN 978-1-908070-07-4ISSN 1757-2819Country Question and Answer Chapters:2 Argentina Allende & Brea: Julián Peña & Federico Rossi 113 Australia Arnold Bloch Leibler: Zaven Mardirossian & Matthew Lees 154 Austria bpv Hügel Rechtsanwälte OG: Astrid Ablasser-Neuhuber & Florian Neumayr 215 Belgium Linklaters LLP: Françoise Lefèvre & Xavier Taton 276 Canada Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP: Chris Hersh & Imran Ahmad 327 Cyprus Lellos P. Demetriades Law Office, LLC: Olga Georgiades 388 Denmark ACCURA Advokatpartnerselskab: Jesper Fabricius & Christina Heiberg-Grevy 439 England & Wales Ashurst LLP: Arundel McDougall & James Levy 4810 European Union Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP: Ingrid Vandenborre &Nikolaos M. Peristerakis 5711 Finland Dittmar & Indrenius: Hanna Laurila & Toni Kalliokoski 6312 France SJ Berwin LLP: Marc Lévy & Natasha Tardif 6913 Germany Beiten Burkhardt: Philipp Cotta & Dr. Holger Peres 7514 Greece D.N. Tzouganatos & Partners: Stamatis Drakakakis 8015 Hungary Oppenheim: Gábor Fejes & Zoltán Marosi 8516 India J. Sagar Associates: Amitabh Kumar & Mansoor Ali Shoket 9117 Ireland Eugene F. Collins Solicitors: Joanne Finn & Ronan O’Neill 9618 Italy Gianni, Origoni, Grippo & Partners: Piero Fattori & Michele Carpagnano 10219 Japan Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu: Eriko Watanabe & Koki Yanagisawa 10820 Korea Shin & Kim: Hyun Ah Kim & John Hyouk Choi 11421 Lithuania Motieka & Audzevicius: Ramūnas Audzevičius & Tomas Samulevičius 11922 Luxembourg Allen & Overy Luxembourg: Gabriel Bleser 12523 Malta Muscat Azzopardi & Associates: Dr. Clayton Fenech & Lynne Satariano 12924 Mexico Müggenburg, Gorches, Peñalosa y Sepúlveda, S.C.: Esteban Gorches& Alfonso Sepúlveda 13325 Netherlands Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn: Berend Jan Drijber &Willem Heemskerk 13926 Poland TGC Corporate Lawyers: Beata Ordowska & Adam Dękierowski 14427 Portugal Sérvulo & Associados: Miguel Gorjão-Henriques & Miguel Sousa Ferro 14928 Singapore Drew & Napier LLC: Cavinder Bull S.C. & Scott Clements 15529 Slovakia TGC Corporate Lawyers: Christian Fielding & Kristína Sýkorová 16130 Spain SJ Berwin LLP: Ramón García Gallardo & Manuel Bermúdez Caballero 16531 Sweden Gernandt & Danielsson: Ola Wiklund & Rolf Larsson 17332 Switzerland Walder Wyss Ltd.: Reto Jacobs & Gion Giger 17733 Ukraine Vasil Kisil & Partners: Oleksiy Filatov & Oleksandr Mamunya 18234 USA Alston & Bird LLP: Adam J. Biegel & Donald M. Houser 187Further copies of this book and others in the series can be ordered from the publisher. Please call +44 20 7367 0720DisclaimerThis publication is for general information purposes only. It does not purport to provide comprehensive full legal or other advice.Global Legal Group Ltd. and the contributors accept no responsibility for losses that may arise from reliance upon information contained in this publication.This publication is intended to give an indication of legal issues upon which you may need advice. Full legal advice should be taken from a qualifiedprofessional when dealing with specific situations.www.ICLG.co.uk
Chapter 3AustraliaZaven MardirossianArnold Bloch LeiblerMatthew Lees1 General1.1 Please identify the scope of claims that may be brought inAustralia for breach of competition law.A wide range of claims may be brought for breach of competitionlaw under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (“Act”).Prior to 1 January 2011, the Act was named the Trade Practices Act1974 (Cth).The principal prohibitions against anticompetitive conduct are setout in Part IV of the Act:(a) “Cartel conduct”, which involves entering into or givingeffect to a contract, arrangement or understanding (“CAU”)that is between competitors and that includes a “cartelprovision”. There are four types of cartel provisions (section44ZZRD):(i) price-fixing;(ii) restricting outputs in the production and supply chain;(iii) allocating customers, suppliers or territories (marketsharing); and(iv) bid-rigging.(b) Entering into or giving effect to a CAU between competitorsthat includes an “exclusionary provision” – a provision thathas the purpose of preventing, restricting or limiting thesupply or acquisition of goods or services by any of thecompetitors (section 4D).(c) A broad prohibition against entering into or giving effect toany CAU that has the purpose, effect or likely effect ofsubstantially lessening competition in a market (section 45).(d) “Secondary boycotts”, which involve, among other elements,two or more persons acting in concert to hinder or preventthe supply of goods or services (sections 45D, 45DA and45DB).(e) “Misuse of market power” – a firm with a substantial degreeof market power taking advantage of that power for thepurpose of eliminating, deterring or substantially damaging acompetitor (section 46(1)).(f) “Predatory pricing” – supplying goods or services for asustained period at a price that is less than the “relevant cost”to the supplier in order to eliminate, deter or substantiallydamage a competitor (section 46(1AAA)).(g) “Exclusive dealing”, which covers a wide range ofrestrictions on the supplier or acquirer of goods or services –such as not supplying/acquiring goods or services to/fromothers or to particular places (section 47). Except for “thirdline forcing” (see below), exclusive dealing is onlyprohibited if it has the purpose, effect or likely effect ofsubstantially lessening competition.ICLG TO: COMPETITION LITIGATION 2012© Published and reproduced with kind permission by Global Legal Group Ltd, London(h) “Third line forcing”, which involves a supplier supplying oroffering to supply goods or services on the condition that theacquirer also acquires other goods or services from anunrelated third party (section 47(6)–(7)).(i) “Resale price maintenance” (section 48), which involves asupplier attempting to induce an acquirer not to resupply thesuppliers’ goods or services for less than a price specified bythe supplier (sections 96 and 96A).(j) Anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions – that is, anyacquisition of shares or assets with the effect or likely effectof substantially lessening competition (section 50).Some exceptions to these prohibitions are discussed in question 5.1.Cartel conduct can be prosecuted as either a criminal offence or acivil contravention. The other prohibitions are civil. However, theAustralian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”),which is the government competition regulator, can seek pecuniarypenalties for civil contraventions (see question 3.1).In addition, the Act includes regimes for:(a) access to essential facilities (Part IIIA);(b) the energy industry (Part IIIAA);(c) the telecommunications industry (Parts XIB and XIC);(d) international liner cargo shipping (Part X); and(e) prices surveillance (Part VIIA).An explanation of these regimes is beyond the scope of this chapter.There is also a common law doctrine that a contractual restraint oftrade is void unless it is reasonable in the parties’ interests and in thepublic interest (Buckley v Tutty (1971) 125 CLR 353). This doctrineis commonly invoked in cases concerning the validity of postemploymentcontractual restraints, and is also beyond the scope ofthis chapter.1.2 What is the legal basis for bringing an action for breach ofcompetition law?The ACCC and private parties may apply to the court under Part VIof the Act for various remedies (see question 3.1).1.3 Is the legal basis for competition law claims derived frominternational, national or regional law?The Act is a statute passed by the Parliament of the Commonwealthof Australia. Due to constitutional limitations on theCommonwealth Parliament’s legislative power, the StateParliaments have all legislated to give Part IV a broader application,thus creating the “Competition Code”.WWW.ICLG.CO.UK15
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