Stephen G. Corones

Consumer Guarantees in Australia: Putting an End to the Blame Game

The focus of this article is on the proposed consumer guarantees component of the Australian Consumer Law. The Productivity Commission (PC), in its review of Australia’s Consumer Policy Framework, noted that it had not ‘undertaken the detailed analysis necessary to reach a judgment on the adequacy or otherwise of the existing regulation in this area, or the merits of alternative models such as those adopted in countries such as New Zealand’. Accordingly, it recommended that: ‘The adequacy of existing legislation related to implied warranties and conditions should be examined as part of the development of the new national generic consumer law’.

Technological Tying in the Computer Industry: When Does it Contravene s 46 of the Trade Practices Act?

The courts in Australia have very little experience of the complex issues that arise when allegations are made about anti-competitive bundling or tying in relation to the supply of computer products. The paper falls broadly into two parts. The first part considers some special characteristics of computer based markets, and the elements that need to be established in order to make out a contravention of s 46 of the TPA. The second part of the paper considers two different types of technological tying: first, the tying of two separate products through the creation of one integrated product; and secondly, tying the sale of a product with its repair or servicing in such a way that independent service organizations (ISOs) are foreclosed from the market. Both types of technological tying are open to a claim that they are anti-competitive and constitute a form of leveraging contrary to s 46 of the TPA.

THE ENFORCEMENT OF COMPETITION LAW AND ANTI-DUMPING LAW WITHIN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

Rather it is the purpose of this article to examine how trade is regulated within the Common Market. It will be necessary, first, to examine the legislative process within the EC. Since there are a number of useful introductory texts on the institutions and legislative processes within the EC,5 this aspect will only be dealt with briefly. The main part of the article will be concerned with the scope and application of those areas of EC law most likely to be of concern to Australian undertakings trading within the Common Market, namely competition law and anti-dumping law. Particular attention will be paid to the procedures adopted by the EC Commission in enforcing both competition rules and anti-dumping rules.