Australian Journal of Competition and Consumer Law update: June 2012

The latest issue of the Australian Journal of Competition and Consumer Law (Volume 20 Part 2) contains the following material:

EDITORIAL

• Defining “unconscionable”: An impossible dream?

Article

Misleading conduct and contributory fault: Inconsistency under the uniform Australian Consumer Law – Nick Seddon and Saul Fridman

The policy behind the implementation of the Australian Consumer Law was to have a single, uniform law. This has not occurred with respect to the availability of a defence of contributory fault in a misleading conduct claim, such defence being available under the Commonwealth law but not under the State and Territory versions. The consequence is that the defence can be avoided by suing under a State or Territory version. Yet it is not possible to avoid the defence by suing under a different section of the same legislation. Having two versions of the law raises the possibility of inconsistency under s 109 of the Constitution. This probably does not arise because of express sections preserving the operation of State and Territory legislation. Nevertheless, the current state of the law is unsatisfactory. This can be remedied by amending the Australian Consumer Law

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Sections

ADMINISTRATION AND NATIONAL COMPETITION POLICY

• The rise and rise of small business commissioners – Frank Zumbo

AUTHORISATIONS AND NOTIFICATIONS

• Authorising anti-competitive conduct for environmental benefits – Dilys Teng

ENFORCEMENTS AND REMEDIES

• The role of declarations in ACCC enforcement proceedings – Bill Keane

CASE NOTE

• Bid-rigging in the Queensland construction and building industry: ACCC v TF Woollam & Sons Pty Ltd – Jennifer Hambleton and Radhika Withana

COMMISSION CAMEOS – Hank Spier

COUNCIL CONSIDERATIONS – Natalie Naylor

REPORT FROM AFRICA

• Sea change for suppliers – Lesley Morphet and Candice Meyer

REPORT FROM INDIA

• Competition law: Recent developments in respect of business combinations in India – Safir Anand and Priyanka Bhatt

REPORT FROM NORTH AMERICA

• GUPPI, the new horizontal merger guidelines and assessing potential competitive effects – Christopher Pleatsikas and J Douglas Zona

BOOK REVIEWS – Dr R J Desiatnik

• The Australian Consumer Law by SG Corones
• Australian Consumer Law: Commentary and Materials by SG Corones and PH Clarke

BENCHMARKS

ODDS AND ENDS

For the pdf version of the table of contents, click here: AJCCL Vol 20 Pt 2 Contents.

Click here to access this Part on Westlaw AU