Bell Gully responds to MED's review of the clearance and authorisation provisions under the Commerce Act 1986

Friday 17 August 2007

Bell Gully has responded to the Ministry of Economic Development's discussion document: "Review of the Clearance and Authorisation Provisions under the Commerce Act 1986".

Bell Gully made four key submissions on the current merger regime:

• the onus of proving a substantial lessening of competition should rest with the Commission, not the Applicant for clearance (an issue not specifically dealt with in the Discussion Document);

• the statutory number of working days for the Commission to reach a clearance decision should be increased to a more realistic 40 working days;

• the Commission should be legally required to publish written merger clearance decisions within a suggested timeframe of 15 working days; and

• the Commission should have the flexibility to accept behavioural undertakings in appropriate merger cases.

Bell Gully also submitted that a clearance process should be available for arrangements as well as for mergers.

Bell Gully's submission reflects the views of our competition law team who are well placed to comment on the procedural issues raised in the discussion document, given their regular dealings with the Commission on merger (and other) matters.

For further details of the review, please visit the Ministry of Economic Development's website at www.med.govt.nz.

For further information, please contact

Phil Taylor
Partner

Torrin Crowther
Senior Associate

David Blacktop
Senior Associate