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Competition Law and Policy - LAWS8219
Basser Steps

 
Faculty: Faculty of Law
 
 
School:  Faculty of Law
 
 
Course Outline: See below
 
 
Campus: Kensington Campus
 
 
Career: Postgraduate
 
 
Units of Credit: 6
 
 
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
 
 
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2
 
 
Enrolment Requirements:
 
 
Academic Program must be either 9200, 9210, 5740, 9230, 9231 or 5231
 
 
Excluded: JURD7419, LEGT5531
 
 
CSS Contribution Charge:Band 3 (more info)
 
 
Tuition Fee:See Tuition Fee Schedule
 
 
Further Information: See Class Timetable
 
 

Description

This course is an in-depth examination of competition law. It examines Part IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA)(formerly the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) and the parallel state provisions of the Competition Code, including the provisions dealing with criminal liability for cartel conduct in some detail. The course does not address consumer protection. A prior knowledge of economics is not essential for this course.


LLM Specialisations

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

A candidate who has successfully completed this course should be able to:
  • Understand the theoretical background to competition law and the political and economic context of the Australian legislation
  • Understand the civil and criminal prohibitions contained in the Act
  • Understand the enforcement mechanisms including investigation powers and criminal and civil penalties
  • Know the remedies available to those affected by the illegal conduct

Main Topics

The course covers the following areas:
  • Competition policy, including history, objectives and current proposals for amendment
  • economic foundations including concepts of market, market power and competition
  • cartel conduct, including both criminal and civil liability and other non-criminal collusion provisions
  • misuse of market power
  • exclusive dealing and resale price maintenance
  • mergers
  • enforcement remedies and defences

Assessment

Class Participation 20%
Research Essay 6000 words 80%

Course Texts

Prescribed

  • Corones, Competition Law in Australia, 5th ed, Thomson, 2010.
  • You will also need a copy of the Competition and Consumer Act 2011. This legislation is published by CCH, and in annotated versions by Law Book Company or Butterworths. These books are available in the UNSW Bookshop. The Act is also available on AUSTLII.

Recommended
Refer to the Course Outline which will be provided prior to the start of the relevant semester.

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© The University of New South Wales (CRICOS Provider No.: 00098G), 2004-2011. The information contained in this Handbook is indicative only. While every effort is made to keep this information up-to-date, the University reserves the right to discontinue or vary arrangements, programs and courses at any time without notice and at its discretion. While the University will try to avoid or minimise any inconvenience, changes may also be made to programs, courses and staff after enrolment. The University may also set limits on the number of students in a course.