Commonwealth Numbered Acts

COMPETITION POLICY REFORM ACT 1995 No. 88 of 1995 - SECT 15

15. Section 51 of the Principal Act is amended by omitting subsection (1) and
substituting:

"(1) In deciding whether a person has contravened this Part, the following
must be disregarded:

   (a)  anything specified in, and specifically authorised by:

        (i)    an Act (not including an Act relating to patents, trade marks,
               designs or copyrights); or

        (ii)   regulations made under such an Act;

   (b)  anything done in a State, if the thing is specified in, and
        specifically authorised by:

        (i)    an Act passed by the Parliament of that State; or

        (ii)   regulations made under such an Act;

   (c)  anything done in the Australian Capital Territory, if the thing is
        specified in, and specifically authorised by:

        (i)    an enactment as defined in section 3 of the Australian Capital
               Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988; or

        (ii)   regulations made under such an enactment;

   (d)  anything done in the Northern Territory, if the thing is specified in,
        and specifically authorised by:

        (i)    an enactment as defined in section 4 of the Northern Territory
               (Self-Government) Act 1978; or

        (ii)   regulations made under such an enactment;

   (e)  anything done in another Territory, if the thing is specified in, and
        specifically authorised by:

        (i)    an Ordinance of that Territory; or

        (ii)   regulations made under such an Ordinance.

"(1A) Without limiting subsection (1), conduct is taken to be specified in,
and authorised by, a law for the purposes of that subsection if:

   (a)  a licence or other instrument issued or made under the law specifies
        one or both of the following:

        (i)    the person authorised to engage in the conduct;

        (ii)   the place where the conduct is to occur; and

   (b)  the law specifies the attributes of the conduct except those mentioned
        in paragraph (a).

For this purpose, 'law' means an Act, State Act, enactment or Ordinance.

"(1B) Subsections (1) and (1A) apply regardless of when the Acts, State Acts,
enactments, Ordinances, regulations or instruments referred to in those
subsections were passed, made or issued.

"(1C) The operation of subsection (1) is subject to the following limitations:

   (a)  in order for something to be regarded as specifically authorised for
        the purposes of subsection (1), the authorising provision must
        expressly refer to this Act;

   (b)  subparagraph (1)(a)(ii) and paragraphs (1)(b), (c), (d) and (e) do not
        apply in deciding whether a person has contravened section 50 or 50A;

   (c)  regulations referred to in subparagraph (1)(a)(ii), (b)(ii), (c)(ii),
        (d)(ii) or (e)(ii) do not have the effect of requiring a particular
        thing to be disregarded if the thing happens more than 2 years after
        those regulations came into operation;

   (d)  regulations referred to in subparagraph (1)(a)(ii), (b)(ii), (c)(ii),
        (d)(ii) or (e)(ii) do not have the effect of requiring a particular
        thing to be disregarded to the extent that the regulations are the
        same in substance as other regulations:

        (i)    referred to in the subparagraph concerned; and

        (ii)   that came into operation more than 2 years before the
               particular thing happened;

   (e)  paragraphs (1)(b) to (d) have no effect in relation to things
        authorised by a law of a State or Territory unless:

        (i)    at the time of the alleged contravention referred to in
               subsection (1) the State or Territory was a party to both the
               Competition Principles Agreement and the Conduct Code
               Agreement; or

        (ii)   all of the following conditions are met:

                (A)  within 12 months before the alleged contravention
                     referred to in subsection (1) the State or Territory
                     ceased to be a party to the Conduct Code Agreement or to
                     the Competition Principles Agreement;

                (B)  the thing authorised was the making of a contract, or an
                     action under a contract, that existed immediately before
                     the State or Territory ceased to be a party;

                (C)  the law authorising the thing was in force immediately
                     before the State or Territory ceased to be a party;

   (f)  subsection (1) does not apply to things that are covered by paragraph
        (1)(b), (c), (d) or (e) to the extent that those things are prescribed
        by regulations made under this Act for the purposes of this
        paragraph.".