Commission joins forces with Australia and UK to address global competition and consumer issues
Published17 Oct 2003
Issued 17 October 2003
Greater global co-operation in combating cross-border breaches of competition and consumer legislation was announced today by Commerce Commission Acting Chair Paula Rebstock.
The announcement follows the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between competition authorities in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The memorandum recognises the advantages of co-operation arrangements and information exchange for enforcement liaison and treatment of confidential material among the agencies in relation to the competition and consumer laws they enforce. For the Commerce Commission, this includes the Commerce and Fair Trading Acts.
"As businesses are becoming increasingly globalised, the benefits from co-operation and co-ordination of competition and consumer law internationally are increasing," said Ms Rebstock.
"This agreement will continue to build on existing relationships to tackle cross-border scams and to increase the information available to each agency when dealing with international corporates and global mergers," she said.
Background
The Memorandum of Understanding is between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the New Zealand Commerce Commission and Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in the United Kingdom.
The Commerce Commission has had a Co-operation and Co-ordination Agreement with Australia since 1994. New Zealand has a tripartite co-operation agreement with Chinese Taipei and Australia on the application of competition and consumer legislation. The New Zealand Commerce Commission has a tripartite co-operation agreement with its Canadian and Australian counterparts (the Canadian Competition Commission and the ACCC).
The Commerce Commission is currently in negotiation with the United States Federal Trade Commission in relation to a similar Memorandum.
