New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WATER INDUSTRY COMPETITION (ACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES) REGULATION 2007 - REG 8

8 Negotiation of access to infrastructure services

(1) IPART must have regard to the provisions of this clause in determining whether or not the parties to a dispute have, in good faith, attempted to resolve the dispute by negotiation, as referred to in section 40 (2) of the Act.

(2) Within 14 days after receiving a request from an access seeker for information under this subclause, a service provider that provides any infrastructure service that is the subject of a coverage declaration or access undertaking must make the following package of information available to the access seeker:

(a) a list of all such services that are provided by the service provider, as described in the relevant coverage declaration or access undertaking,

(b) information as to the procedure to be followed to obtain access to each such service, and as to the time it is likely to take to negotiate access (assuming the matter does not go to arbitration),

(c) a copy of IPART’s negotiation protocols, together with a statement to the effect that, unless otherwise agreed between the parties, those protocols will apply to any negotiations for access to any such service,

(d) such information as IPART’s negotiation protocols require to be provided,

(e) such other information as the service provider considers appropriate to include in the package.

(3) IPART’s negotiation protocols must include the following:

(a) an obligation on each party to negotiate in good faith,

(b) an obligation on the service provider to use all reasonable endeavours to accommodate the access seeker’s requirements,

(c) a statement of the information to be included in the service provider’s package of information, as referred to in subclause (2) (d),

(d) protocols as to the exchange of information between the parties, including:

(i) an obligation on the service provider to provide the access seeker with such information as is necessary to understand the derivation of any derived elements that occur in any proposed access agreement, and

(ii) an obligation on each party to give such undertakings as to confidentiality as the other party may reasonably require,

(e) protocols as to the notice (if any) to be given to third parties in relation to the negotiations,

(f) protocols as to the dispute resolution procedures to be attempted before an application is made to IPART for the dispute to be determined by arbitration.

(4) The parties to the dispute must give written notice to IPART of any agreement under which they undertake to use negotiation protocols other than IPART’s.