Commonwealth Numbered Acts

TRADE PRACTICES REVISION ACT 1986 No. 17 of 1986 - SECT 17

17. Section 46 of the Principal Act is amended-

   (a)  by omitting sub-sections (1), (2), (3) and (4) and substituting the
        following sub-sections:

"(1) A corporation that has a substantial degree of power in a market shall
not take advantage of that power for the purpose of-

   (a)  eliminating or substantially damaging a competitor of the corporation
        or of a body corporate that is related to the corporation in that or
        any other market;

   (b)  preventing the entry of a person into that or any other market; or

   (c)  deterring or preventing a person from engaging in competitive conduct
        in that or any other market.

"(2) If-

   (a)  a body corporate that is related to a corporation has, or 2 or more
        bodies corporate each of which is related to the one corporation
        together have, a substantial degree of power in a market; or

   (b)  a corporation and a body corporate that is, or a corporation and 2 or
        more bodies corporate each of which is, related to that corporation,
        together have a substantial degree of power in a market,
the corporation shall be taken for the purposes of this section to have a
substantial degree of power in that market.

"(3) In determining for the purposes of this section the degree of power that
a body corporate or bodies corporate has or have in a market, the Court shall
have regard to the extent to which the conduct of the body corporate or of any
of those bodies corporate in that market is constrained by the conduct of-

   (a)  competitors, or potential competitors, of the body corporate or of any
        of those bodies corporate in that market; or

   (b)  persons to whom or from whom the body corporate or any of those bodies
        corporate supplies or acquires goods or services in that market.

"(4) In this section-

   (a)  a reference to power is a reference to market power;

   (b)  a reference to a market is a reference to a market for goods or
        services; and

   (c)  a reference to power in relation to, or to conduct in, a market is a
        reference to power, or to conduct, in that market either as a supplier
        or as an acquirer of goods or services in that market."; and

   (b)  by adding at the end the following sub-section:

"(7) Without in any way limiting the manner in which the purpose of a person
may be established for the purposes of any other provision of this Act, a
corporation may be taken to have taken advantage of its power for a purpose
referred to in sub-section (1) notwithstanding that, after all the evidence
has been considered, the existence of that purpose is ascertainable only by
inference from the conduct of the corporation or of any other person or from
other relevant circumstances.".