{"id":"BILL-s1493","name":"Competition and Consumer Amendment (Responding to Exceptional Circumstances) Bill 2026","slug":"competition-and-consumer-amendment-responding-to-exceptional-circumstances-bill-2026","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":457660,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-s1493-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-18","status":"introduced","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"retrieval-0001","sectionType":"document_chunk","heading":"Document excerpt 1","content":"# Competition and Consumer Amendment (Responding to Exceptional Circumstances) Bill 2026\n\nSource: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=s1493\n\n## APH summary\n\nSummary\n\nAmends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to: enable the minister to make an exemptional circumstance declaration; enable the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to authorise and exempt conduct from competition law that is in the public interest and assists in the response to those exceptional circumstances; and increase the maximum penalties for breaches of the Oil Code of Conduct. Also makes consequential amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and National Emergency Declaration Act 2020.\n\n## Parliamentary progress\n\nProgress\n\nSenate\n\nIntroduced and read a first time\n\n13 May 2026\n\nSecond reading moved\n\n13 May 2026\n\nSecond reading debate\n\n13 May 2026\n\nSecond reading debate\n\n14 May 2026\n\nSecond reading agreed to\n\n14 May 2026\n\nCommittee of the Whole debate\n\nAmendment details: 1 Australian Greens agreed to\n\n14 May 2026\n\nThird reading agreed to\n\n14 May 2026\n\n## Official APH document links\n\n- First reading: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fbills%2Fs1493_first-senate%2F0000%22;rec=0\n- Third reading: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22legislation/bills/s1493_third-senate/0000%22\n- Explanatory memorandum: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fems%2Fs1493_ems_73602a77-426e-4fa3-aa0a-2bfc4f7156df%22\n- All second reading speeches: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result/Second_Reading_Speeches?BillId=s1493\n- Minister's second reading speech: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F29219%2F0027%22\n- CANAVAN, Sen Matthew: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=245212\n- MCKIM, Sen Nick: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=JKM\n- CANAVAN, Sen Matthew: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=245212\n- CANAVAN, Sen Matthew: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=245212","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Bill remains focused on permitting temporary competition law relief to assist responses to exceptional circumstances and on strengthening enforcement of the Oil Code. Adding higher penalties for the Oil Code and the consequential amendments to emergency legislation are extensions that sit within the broader purpose of improving emergency response and compliance; they do not appear to expand the subject matter beyond that original, stated purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and the National Emergency Declaration Act 2020 (cross‑legislative linkages)","Introduces a new defined concept: \"exceptional circumstances declaration\" (new threshold-based trigger)","Creates two new ACCC powers: authorisation and statutory exemption for otherwise-prohibited conduct (conditional discretion)","Increases penalties in a separate regulatory instrument (Oil Code) — adds cross-sector compliance implications","Requires coordination between Ministerial declaration and ACCC action (sequencing and dependencies)","Likely multiple conditional tests (public interest, assistance to response) and potential time limits or conditions (nested conditions increase complexity)","Dependence on procedural safeguards (transparency, reporting, review/appeal) not fully described in summary — implementation details add to complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this Bill does (mechanically)**\n\n- Creates a new power for the Commonwealth Minister to make an “exceptional circumstances declaration” that identifies a national emergency or other exceptional situation. (A declaration is a formal decision that triggers special rules.)\n- Gives the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) new powers to: 1) authorise conduct that would otherwise breach the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA), and 2) issue statutory exemptions from the competition rules, when that conduct is in the public interest and helps respond to the declared exceptional circumstances.\n- Increases the maximum civil penalties for breaches of the Oil Code of Conduct.\n- Makes related changes to the CCA and to the National Emergency Declaration Act 2020 so the new declaration, authorisation and exemption powers sit alongside existing emergency law frameworks.\n\n**Who is affected**\n\n- Businesses across affected sectors: firms that might need to cooperate (for example, on logistics, joint procurement, information sharing or temporary allocation of scarce inputs) during an exceptional circumstance will be the primary actors affected.\n- The ACCC: gains discretionary authorisation and exemption powers and must assess and (where appropriate) approve or exempt otherwise-prohibited conduct.\n- The Minister: gains a new formal power to declare exceptional circumstances, which activates the ACCC’s new discretion.\n- Consumers and other market participants: are affected indirectly through changes to market behaviour (cooperation between firms, allocation of supplies, price effects) and through enforcement of higher penalties in the oil sector.\n- Oil industry participants: face higher maximum penalties under the Oil Code if they breach its requirements.\n\n**Why it matters (official purpose, and how it works in practice)**\n\n- Officially, the Bill is designed to allow timely, legally certain cooperation between businesses and government in circumstances where normal competition rules could impede an effective response (for example, during a national supply emergency). The new mechanisms let the ACCC approve or exempt conduct that would otherwise be illegal under competition law if that conduct: (a) helps the emergency response, and (b) is in the public interest.\n\n- In practice, the Bill changes incentives and decision-making. Firms may seek ACCC authorisation or rely on statutory exemptions to coordinate activities that would otherwise risk competition law enforcement. The Minister’s declaration is the gate that enables these ACCC powers to operate.\n\n**Costs, incentives and trade-offs (mechanisms, not opinions)**\n\n- Who decides: the Minister decides whether to declare an exceptional circumstance; the ACCC decides whether to authorise or exempt particular conduct; courts decide on penalties and disputes.\n\n- Who pays: potential costs fall on market participants and consumers. If authorised cooperation reduces competition, consumers can face higher prices or reduced choice. Businesses bear application and compliance costs when seeking ACCC authorisation and may face higher penalties in the oil sector.\n\n- Trade-offs and opportunity costs:\n  - Benefit: faster or legally protected coordination can speed supply responses, reduce transaction costs for joint action, and create legal certainty for firms cooperating during emergencies.\n  - Cost: authorising cooperation reduces competition safeguards; there is a risk authorised conduct could be broader or last longer than necessary, imposing consumer costs.\n  - Administrative cost: ACCC must assess authorisation/exemption applications quickly and with limited resources, creating resourcing and timing risks.\n\n- Bureaucratic discretion and implementation risk:\n  - The Minister’s discretion over when a declaration is made concentrates a significant gatekeeping power in an elected official. The clarity of the declaration threshold (how narrowly or broadly ‘exceptional circumstances’ is defined) is critical to limiting scope.\n  - The ACCC’s discretion to authorise conduct places importance on transparent criteria, time limits, and reporting to avoid unintended or persistent relaxations of competition.\n\n- Compliance burden and legal risk:\n  - Firms must decide whether to seek ACCC approval or run the risk of enforcement; that choice creates transaction costs and timing friction during emergencies.\n  - Higher penalties under the Oil Code raise the stakes for firms in that sector, changing behaviour by increasing downside legal risk.\n\n- Market effects and possible distributional impacts:\n  - Concentrated benefits: large suppliers or firms that can access authorisations quickly may gain advantage (for example, preferential supply arrangements or sanctioned market allocation).\n  - Diffuse costs: any upward pressure on prices or reduced competition is spread across many consumers.\n  - Rent-seeking and capture risk: firms may lobby for declarations or authorisations that favour their commercial position rather than public interest outcomes; effective ACCC scrutiny and transparent decision-making reduce but do not eliminate that risk.\n\n**Practical dependencies and safeguards to watch for**\n\n- The practical effect of the Bill depends on design details: the definition and threshold for an “exceptional circumstances declaration,” whether authorisations and exemptions are time-limited, required transparency/reporting, and review or appeal rights. Those implementation design choices determine how narrowly the powers will be used and how quickly normal competition protections will be restored.\n\n**Bottom line — what changes to behaviour are predictable**\n\n- During a declared exceptional circumstance, some firms will coordinate in ways previously restricted by competition law, with ACCC oversight rather than criminal or civil exposure.\n- The oil sector faces stronger enforcement incentives due to higher penalties under the Oil Code.\n- The Minister and ACCC become central decision-makers in balancing emergency response needs against competition harms; the practical balance depends on the operational limits and safeguards written into the legislation and accompanying administrative practice."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-responding-to-exceptional-circumstances-bill-2026","history":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-responding-to-exceptional-circumstances-bill-2026/history","analysis":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-responding-to-exceptional-circumstances-bill-2026/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-responding-to-exceptional-circumstances-bill-2026/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-responding-to-exceptional-circumstances-bill-2026/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-responding-to-exceptional-circumstances-bill-2026/documents"}}