Criminal Penalties for Contraventions of Part IV of the Trade Practices Act

Abstract

In 2003 the Dawson Committee, commissioned by the Australian Government, recommended that criminal penalties should be introduced for cartel conduct. The Government accepted this recommendation in principle and set up a working party to consider the implementation difficulties that had been identified in the Dawson Report. Nothing further was heard from the Government until February 2005 when the Government announced that it would introduce criminal penalties for serious cartel conduct. This paper evaluates the Government proposals and makes suggestions for their implementation.

Keywords: criminal penalties, cartels, Dawson Report, Trade Practices Act

JEL Classification: K19, K30, K42