This course is intended to provide students who have not previously studied competition law, with an introduction to the legal, economic and regulatory foundations of competition law and policy in Australia.
This course will look at the way firms attempt to exercise market power or otherwise attempt to manipulate the market in order to eliminate or substantially lessen competition; to the detriment of consumers. And it’s about how the Federal government attempts to prevent this sort of anticompetitive conduct through enforcement of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (“the CCA”).
But since firms are controlled by people, at another level, this course is really about greed for profit, lust for power, blatant manipulation, secret factions, ruthless betrayal, spiteful vengeance, high-handed arrogance, ludicrous corporate rationalizations, political farce and the occasional win for justice.
The last five years have seen an extraordinary amount of legislative change to Australia’s competition and consumer protection regimes and in 2010, the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Act (No 2) 2010 (Cth) (“the Amendment Act’) introduced the Australian Consumer Law. Although the Amendment Act does not affect the restrictive trade practices regime, it did rename the former Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (“the CCA”).
From 1 January 2011, the CCA was re-named as the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) ("the CCA") and it is this legislation that will be explored in this course. In particular, it will focus on Part IV of the CCA; the Part that prohibits various forms of anticompetitive conduct.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Identify and explain the foundation principles of Australia’s National Competition Policy (“NCP”) and the role of the CCA in the NCP;
- Identify, interpret and explain the economic concepts behind the anti-competitive conduct prohibitions in Part IV of the CCA;
- Identify, critically analyse and apply the elements that must be satisfied in order to establish a contravention of Part IV of the CCA; and
- Critically examine, evaluate and use the principal case-authorities involving Part IV of the CCA to demonstrate master of knowledge and understanding of the way in which courts have interpreted the elements of Part IV of the CCA;
- Identify, critically evaluate and apply to complex situations, the ways in which contraventions of the anticompetitive provisions of the CCA are addressed through the penalties and remedies in the CCA;
- Interpret and critically evaluate the enforcement program of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“the ACCC”) and the ways in which the ACCC seeks to ensure compliance with the CCA; and
- Apply research principles and methods to identify recent developments in competition law and critically reflect on the significance of those developments.
Other Information
This is an intensive course with a 4 day compulsory intensive (see LLM timetable for dates).Approximately 6 weeks from the completion of the intensive your final assessment will be due. Contact with fellow students and the convenor, both prior to the intensive and after, is conducted via the Wattle course site.
Indicative Assessment
- Assessment for this course will likely consist of: (null) [LO null]
- Take home exam 1 (50%) (50) [LO null]
- Take home exam 2 (50%) (50) [LO null]
- Students must rely on the approved Course Study Guide which will be posted to the Wattle course site approximately 4 weeks prior to the commencement of the course. (null) [LO null]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
26 hours of face to face teaching (4 day intensive). The course will also require advanced preparation through assigned readings. In total, it is anticipated that the hours required for completion this course (class preparation, teaching and completion of assessment) will not exceed 120 hours.Click here for the LLM Masters Program timetable
Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
The prescribed text for this course is:- Alex Bruce: Australian Competition Law, 2nd ed, 2013, LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney
Preliminary Reading
Students must rely on the approved Course Study Guide which will be posted to the Wattle course site approximately 4 weeks prior to the commencement of the course.An e-brick will be available on the Wattle course site.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 3
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $3840 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $5460 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7302 | 26 Jul 2021 | 02 Aug 2021 | 14 Sep 2021 | 29 Oct 2021 | Online | View |
