Emergency conduct exemptions for the ACCC during national crises
Competition and Consumer Amendment (Responding to Exceptional Circumstances) Bill 2026
1st House
2nd House
Law
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Minister can declare exceptional circumstances if the economy or consumers face significant harm; this lets the Commission grant conduct exemptions.
The Commission can give specific people or groups permission to engage in conduct that would otherwise break competition laws; this must help the emergency response or recovery.
The Commission can create broad exemptions for types of conduct during an emergency; it can withdraw these exemptions from specific people via written notice.
The Minister can keep an exceptional circumstances declaration in force for up to 6 months.
The Commission cannot use these emergency powers to grant merger authorisations.
Suppliers, distributors and retailers in the petroleum marketing industry must follow the Oil Code of Conduct; breaches now trigger the same penalties as franchising and food codes.