Commonwealth Numbered Acts

COMPETITION POLICY REFORM ACT 1995 No. 88 of 1995 - SECT 81

81. After section 2A of the Principal Act the following sections are inserted:
Application of Act to States and Territories

"2B.(1) Part IV, and the other provisions of this Act so far as they relate to
Part IV, bind the Crown in right of each of the States, of the Northern
Territory and of the Australian Capital Territory, so far as the Crown carries
on a business, either directly or by an authority of the State or Territory.

"(2) Nothing in this Act renders the Crown in right of a State or Territory
liable to a pecuniary penalty or to be prosecuted for an offence.".

"(3) The protection in subsection (2) does not apply to an authority of a
State or Territory.".

Activities that are not business

"2C.(1) For the purposes of sections 2A and 2B, the following do not amount to
carrying on a business:

   (a)  imposing or collecting:

        (i)    taxes; or

        (ii)   levies; or

        (iii)  fees for licences;

   (b)  granting, refusing to grant, revoking, suspending or varying licences
        (whether or not they are subject to conditions);

   (c)  a transaction involving:

        (i)    only persons who are all acting for the Crown in the same right
               (and none of whom is an authority of the Commonwealth or an
               authority of a State or Territory); or

        (ii)   only persons who are all acting for the same authority of the
               Commonwealth; or

        (iii)  only persons who are all acting for the same authority of a
               State or Territory; or

        (iv)   only the Crown in right of the Commonwealth and one or more
               non-commercial authorities of the Commonwealth; or

        (v)    only the Crown in right of a State or Territory and one or more
               non-commercial authorities of that State or Territory; or

        (vi)   only non-commercial authorities of the Commonwealth; or

        (vii)  only non-commercial authorities of the same State or Territory;

   (d)  the acquisition of primary products by a government body under
        legislation, unless the acquisition occurs because:

        (i)    the body chooses to acquire the products; or

        (ii)   the body has not exercised a discretion that it has under the
               legislation that would allow it not to acquire the products.

"(2) Subsection (1) does not limit the things that do not amount to carrying
on a business for the purposes of sections 2A and 2B.

"(3) In this section:
'acquisition of primary products by a government body under legislation'
includes vesting of ownership of primary products in a government body by
legislation;
'government body' means the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory, an authority
of the Commonwealth or an authority of a State or Territory;
'licence' means a licence that allows the licensee to supply goods or
services;
'primary products' means:

   (a)  agricultural or horticultural produce; or

   (b)  crops, whether on or attached to the land or not; or

   (c)  animals (whether dead or alive); or

   (d)  the bodily produce (including natural increase) of animals.

"(4) For the purposes of this section, an authority of the Commonwealth or an
authority of a State or Territory is 'non-commercial' if:

   (a)  it is constituted by only one person; and

   (b)  it is neither a trading corporation nor a financial corporation.

Exemption of certain activities of local government bodies from Part IV

"2D.(1) Part IV does not apply to:

   (a)  the refusal to grant, or the granting, suspension or variation of,
        licences (whether or not they are subject to conditions) by a local
        government body; or

   (b)  a transaction involving only persons who are acting for the same local
        government body.

"(2) In this section:
'licence' means a licence that allows the licensee to supply goods or
services;
'local government body' means a body established by or under a law of a State
or Territory for the purposes of local government, other than a body
established solely or primarily for the purposes of providing a particular
service, such as the supply of electricity or water.".