The Commerce Amendment Act 2022 made changes to section 36 of the Commerce Act 1986, which is the provision dealing with misuse of market power. The changes are designed to better enable the Commission to take enforcement action against misuse of market power and will come into effect on 5 April 2023. 

The draft Guidelines explain how the Commission will assess conduct under the amended section 36, including our approach to applying the ‘substantial lessening of competition’ test to unilateral conduct.

A copy of the draft Guidelines, and further information on the consultation process and how to make a submission, can be found on our website. The deadline for submissions on the draft Guidelines is 18 November 2022.