A report of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s activities
Following intervention by the ACCC, Aldi supermarkets voluntarily stopped selling Tonix Floor Cleaner. Several consumers complained that this cleaning product looked too much like an orange drink
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- 43.Compliance campaigns
- 44.Revocation of the mandatory safety standard for motorcycle helmets
- 45.Infrastructure regulation
- 46.Telecommunications
- Major contributors to the 9.4 per cent fall in prices include
- 48.Superfast broadband access service (SBAS) declaration inquiry
Following intervention by the ACCC, Aldi supermarkets voluntarily stopped selling Tonix Floor Cleaner. Several consumers complained that this cleaning product looked too much like an orange drink.In December 2015 the ACCC negotiated a recall of GAIA Natural Baby Skin Soothing Lotion as the inaccurate disclosure of the ingredients meant the goods may cause injury, primarily to consumers with sensitivity to particular chemicals.43.Compliance campaignsThe ACCC conducted surveillance activities on various consumer products during the quarter. These activities comprised of a combination of visual surveillance of products in-store and online, as well as performance testing by test laboratories against mandatory performance requirements stipulated by the various regulations.Non-compliance identified in market surveillance activities resulted in 13 non-compliant products being voluntarily recalled by suppliers.Recalled products included vehicle child restraints, portable vehicle ramps, portable vehicle stands, face and finger paints, toys for children, novelty toy-like cigarette lighters, sunglasses, treadmills, exercise cycles, babies dummies and puff cigarettes.The ACCC also conducted surveillance activities targeting non-compliant elastic luggage straps, inspecting more than 400 products. Non-compliant luggage straps pose a safety risk to consumers as they may cause eye injuries. While compliance levels in the market were considered generally high, the surveillance activity caused four non-compliant products to be voluntarily recalled by their suppliers.44.Revocation of the mandatory safety standard for motorcycle helmetsOn 27 November 2015 the Commonwealth Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, the Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP, revoked the mandatory safety standard for the supply of motorcycle helmets. The Minister revoked the mandatory safety standard on the basis that regulation was unnecessary because the state and territory road use laws adequately dealt with motorcycle helmet safety.The removal of this regulation not only reduced unnecessary red tape for motorcyclists, it improved competition in the marketplace for motorcycle helmets, which was previously hampered by the mandatory standard.45.Infrastructure regulationPromote the economically efficient operation of, use of, and investment in infrastructure; and identify market failure The ACCC’s role encompasses key infrastructure sectors of the economy, including telecommunications, petroleum, rail, water, ports and airports, and involves:Regulating access to bottleneck infrastructure and the price for that access. Effective regulation of infrastructure services supports effective competition in upstream and downstream markets, and the economically efficient operation and use of, and investment in, Australia’s key infrastructure, thereby promoting the long-term interests of end-users. Providing industry monitoring reports to government in relation to highly concentrated, newly deregulated or emerging markets. This includes annual monitoring reports for container stevedoring, airports, telecommunications and water, and at least quarterly reports on the prices, costs and profits relating to the supply of unleaded petroleum products. Enforcing industry-specific competition and market rules in some infrastructure sectors to improve the efficient operation of markets.
The ACCC is responsible for the economic regulation of the communications, broadcasting and audio-visual content sectors.47.Final decision on primary price terms for the fixed line services FADOn 9 October 2015 the ACCC made the fixed line services FADs setting price and non-price terms of access to the seven declared fixed line services.1The ACCC’s final decision was a one off uniform decrease in regulated charges of 9.4 per cent, taking effect from 1 November 2015 until 30 June 2019.The ACCC has dealt with a number of complex issues in setting these determinations including the unique circumstances of the transition from Telstra’s copper network to the national broadband network (NBN).Major contributors to the 9.4 per cent fall in prices include:lower capital and operating costs of the fixed line network—including lower cost of capital and lower operating costs as the number of services in operation (SIOs) decline adjustments to account for the effects of the migration of services to the NBN on asset redundancy and loss of scale economies. On 5 November 2015 Telstra applied for judicial review of the ACCC’s decision on the fixed line services FADs. Optus and TPG applied to be made parties to the proceedings and were joined as the second and third respondents. The hearing is scheduled for two days from 3 March 2016.48.Superfast broadband access service (SBAS) declaration inquiryOn 11 September 2014 the ACCC commenced an inquiry into whether a superfast broadband access service (SBAS), such as the very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) service, should be regulated. This followed the conclusion of the ACCC’s investigation into TPG’s proposal to deploy a fibre-to-the-basement (FTTB) network and recommendations made by the Vertigan panel for the ACCC to commence a declaration inquiry into vectored VDSL2 networks causing monopolies for technological and economic reasons.On 6 May 2015 the ACCC released a discussion paper seeking industry views on whether the SBAS should be declared and the scope of any service description.On 6 November 2015 the ACCC released a draft decision proposing to declare a SBAS for five years. The ACCC considered that declaration will promote the long-term interests of end-users because it is likely to promote competition in the downstream markets for retail superfast broadband services.The draft decision proposed to declare the wholesale supply of a Layer 2 broadband service with a downstream data rate normally more than 25 Mbps on all fixed-line networks, except the NBN. AuHFC networks contracted to be transferred to NBN Co, networks already subject to the Local Bitstream Access Service (LBAS) declaration and those that exclusively supply business, public body and charity customers.Directory: system -> files files -> Haiti Relief – esf 15 Support Organization Situation Report # 17 1/28/10 files -> Haiti Relief – esf 15 Support Organization Situation Report # 16 1/27/10 files -> Right to Carbon or Right to Life: Human Rights Approaches to Climate Change files -> Enhancing interactive learning in the classroom with Turning Point files -> Curriculum vita files -> - files -> Acknowledgements files -> Nw, Washington D. C 20037 Telephone: (202)884-1080, (202)939-6125/7 files -> Grey-headed Flying-fox Management Strategy for the Lower Hunter Grey-headed Flying-fox Download 352.6 Kb. Share with your friends:
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