As part of our commitment to greater transparency and increasing the public's understanding of what we do and how we do it, we publish our priorities for each financial year.
2020/21 priorities
Enduring priorities
There are a number of areas the Commission will always regard as a priority due to the potential significant impact on consumers, businesses and markets in New Zealand, or because they are a core part of our statutory role.
Focus areas
Each year we target our resources on specific areas that fall within our remit and which are important to everyday life and the economy. For 2020/21 these are:
Enforcing limits on the fees and interest that can be charged on high cost consumer credit contracts
Educating lenders and borrowers about changes to consumer credit law
Preventing harm from pyramid schemes
Responding to COVID-19 related consumer issues
Cartels - educating businesses about the introduction of a new criminal offence for competitors who agree not to compete
Strengthening the regulation of telecommunications
Reviewing the revenue limit and quality standards applying to Aurora Energy Limited.
Organisation responsiveness
Through a programme called 'fit for the future', we are focussed on remaining responsive to changes in expectations about how we carry out our role.
In 2020/21 we will be continuing to evolve our engagement with consumers and businesses, expanding our presence in Auckland, supporting strategy and governance, building broader corporate capability and sharing knowledge through international and domestic networks.
Supporting economic recovery
As COVID-19 and its after-effects bring greater uncertainty to markets, some aspects of our work may be particularly significant. Changes in the way competitive markets operate could have a significant long-term effect on economic recovery. These changes can happen quickly, and can have enduring consequences that are difficult to undo.
In 2020/21 we will be helping to safeguard the integrity of competitive markets by:
Working with Government agencies to ensure competition considerations feature in policy development, regulatory initiatives and procurement
Using the new fast track process to consider authorisations
Reviewing mergers and acquisitions that occur in response to changing circumstances
Educating industry about their obligations under competition law
Taking enforcement action against businesses that unlawfully reduce or remove competition
Building out understanding about the impact of recent events on competition
Protecting and promoting competition where it is beneficial to consumers (in infrastructure industries subject to sector-specific regulation).