THE AUSTRALIAN ANTITRUST-LAW AFTER 20 YEARS - A STOCKTAKE

The Australian Trade Practices Act 1974 is a court-centered law of the American type. After 20 years it has much to its credit - the abandonment of cartelization and the achievement of a coherent body of antitrust law focused upon market power as the central concept. The law has some distinctive features: the approach to market definition; the possibility of authorization on grounds of public benefit; the treatment of verticals. The challenge now is to expose the exempt sectors to the Act and to design a compatible regime for the corporatized and privatized utilities.