{"id":"F2020L00130","name":"Competition and Consumer (Price Inquiry—Digital Platforms) Direction 2020","slug":"competition-and-consumer-price-inquiry-digital-platforms-direction-2020","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":440378,"registerId":"F2020L00130-fast-fetch-1775956029066","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Competition and Consumer (Price Inquiry—Digital Platforms) Direction 2020","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nCompetition and Consumer (Price Inquiry—Digital Platforms) Direction 2020\n\nI, Josh Frydenberg, Treasurer, give the following direction to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.\n\nDated: 10 February 2020\n\n \n\nJosh Frydenberg\n\nTreasurer\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n1  Name \n\n2  Commencement\n\n3  Authority\n\n4  Definitions\n\nPart 2—Price inquiry into supply of digital platform services\n\n5  Commission to hold an inquiry\n\n6  Directions on matters to be taken into consideration in the inquiry\n\n7  Directions as to holding of the inquiry\n\n8  Period for completing the inquiry\n\n \n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Competition and Consumer (Price Inquiry—Digital Platforms) Direction 2020.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument The day after this instrument is registered.\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.\n\n4  Definitions\n\nNote: Expressions have the same meaning in this instrument as in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 as in force from time to time—see paragraph 13(1)(b) of the Legislation Act 2003.\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAustralian law means a law of the Commonwealth, a State, or a Territory (whether written or unwritten).\n\ndata broker means a supplier who collects personal or other information on persons, and sells this information to, or shares this information with, others.\n\ndigital content aggregation platform means an online system that collects information from disparate sources and presents it to consumers as a collated, curated product in which users may be able to customise or filter their aggregation, or to use a search function.\n\ndigital platform services means any of the following:\n\n (a) internet search engine services (including general search services and specialised search services);\n\n (b) social media services;\n\n (c) online private messaging services (including text messaging; audio messaging and visual messaging);\n\n (d) digital content aggregation platform services;\n\n (e) media referral services provided in the course of providing one or more of the services mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d);\n\n (f) electronic marketplace services.\n\nelectronic marketplace services means a service (including a website, internet portal, gateway, store or marketplace) that:\n\n (a) facilitates the supply of goods or services between suppliers and consumers; and\n\n (b) is delivered by means of electronic communication; and\n\n (c) is not solely a carriage service (within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act 1997) or solely consisting of one of more of the following:\n\n (i) providing access to a payment system;\n\n (ii) processing payments.\n\nexempt supply has the meaning given by subsection 95A(1) of the Act.\n\ngoods has the meaning given by subsection 95A(1) of the Act.\n\ninquiry has the meaning given by subsection 95A(1) of the Act.\n\nservices has the meaning given by subsection 95A(1) of the Act.\n\nState or Territory authority has the meaning given by subsection 95A(1) of the Act.\n\nsupply has the meaning given by subsection 95A(1) of the Act.\n\nthe Act means the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.\n\nPart 2—Price inquiry into supply of digital platform services\n\n \n\n5  Commission to hold an inquiry\n\n (1) Under subsection 95H(1) of the Act, the Commission is required to hold an inquiry into the markets for the supply of digital platform services. The inquiry is not to extend to any of the following:\n\n (a) the supply of a good or service by a State or Territory authority;\n\n (b) the supply of a good or service that is an exempt supply;\n\n (c) reviewing the operation of any Australian law (other than the Act) relating to communications, broadcasting, media, privacy or taxation;\n\n (d) reviewing the operation of any program funded by the Commonwealth, or any policy of the Commonwealth (other than policies relating to competition and consumer protection).\n\n (2) For the purposes of subsection 95J(1), the inquiry is to be held in relation to goods and services of the following descriptions:\n\n (a) digital platform services;\n\n (b) digital advertising services supplied by digital platform service providers;\n\n (c) data collection, storage, supply, processing and analysis services supplied by:\n\n (i) digital platform service providers; or\n\n (ii) data brokers.\n\n (3) Under subsection 95J(2), the inquiry is not to be held in relation to the supply of goods and services by a particular person or persons.\n\n6  Directions on matters to be taken into consideration in the inquiry\n\n  Under subsection 95J(6) of the Act, the Commission is directed to take into consideration all of the following matters in holding the inquiry:\n\n (a) the intensity of competition in the markets for the supply of digital platform services, with particular regard to:\n\n (i) the concentration of power in the markets amongst and between suppliers; and\n\n (ii) the behaviour of suppliers in the markets, including:\n\n (A) the nature, characteristics and quality of the services they offer; and\n\n (B) the pricing and other terms and conditions they offer to consumers and businesses; and\n\nExample:  Terms and conditions relating to data collection and use.\n\n (iii) changes in the range of services offered by suppliers, and any associated impacts those changes had or may have on other markets; and\n\n (iv) mergers and acquisitions in the markets for digital platform services; and\n\n (v) matters that may act as a barrier to market entry, expansion or exit, and the extent to which those matters act as such a barrier;\n\n (b) practices of individual suppliers in the markets for digital platform services which may result in consumer harm, including supplier policies relating to privacy and data collection, management and disclosure;\n\n (c) market trends, including innovation and technology change, that may affect the degree of market power, and its durability, held by suppliers of digital platform services;\n\n (d) changes over time in the nature of, characteristics and quality of digital platform services arising from innovation and technological change;\n\n (e) developments in markets for the supply of digital platform services outside Australia.\n\n7  Directions as to holding of the inquiry\n\n (1) Under subsection 95J(6) of the Act, the Commission is directed to do the following in holding the inquiry:\n\n (a) regularly monitor the markets for the supply of digital platform services for changes in the markets, particularly focussing on the matters referred to in section 6 of this instrument; and\n\n (b) give to the Treasurer an interim report on the inquiry by 30 September 2020, and then further interim reports every 6 months thereafter, on:\n\n (i) any changes observed by the Commission in the markets since the last report; and\n\n (ii) any other matter, within the scope of the inquiry, the Commission believes appropriate.\n\n (2) Under subsection 95P(3) of the Act, the Commission is directed not to make available for public inspection, copies of any interim report until the Treasurer, in writing, authorises the Commission to do so.\n\n8  Period for completing the inquiry\n\n  For the purposes of subsection 95K(1) of the Act, the inquiry is to be completed, and a report on the matter of inquiry given to the Treasurer, by no later than 31 March 2025.\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is the original instrument establishing the inquiry. The scope remains tightly focused on its original purpose: investigating digital platform markets, competition intensity, consumer harm from data practices, and market power concentration. The 5-year timeframe was ambitious but built into the original design."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument (8 sections, ~3 pages)","Minimal cross-referencing - primarily references sections 95A, 95H, 95J, 95K and 95P of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010","11 defined terms in section 4, but most simply incorporate definitions from the parent Act","Clear structure with only 2 Parts (Preliminary and Price inquiry)","Straightforward conditional logic - primarily exclusions and scope limitations in sections 5(1) and 5(3)","No nested exceptions or complex temporal provisions beyond the completion deadline"],"plain_english_summary":"The Treasurer directed the ACCC to run a five‑year market inquiry into digital platforms (search, social, messaging, marketplaces and digital advertising), with regular six‑monthly reporting, to examine market power, consumer harms (especially data/privacy), barriers to entry, mergers and innovation. It targets big tech, data brokers and Australian users/businesses while excluding government services and other statutory schemes. This direction launched the Digital Platforms Inquiry and prompted major reforms, notably the News Media Bargaining Code requiring platforms to pay Australian news publishers."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"This Direction narrows and specifies the ACCC’s inquiry power under the Act to focus on digital platform services and related digital advertising and data services (s5(1)–(2)). It also narrows what the inquiry must not cover by excluding supplies by State or Territory authorities, exempt supplies, reviews of other Australian laws or Commonwealth-funded programs, and inquiries into particular persons (s5(1)(a)–(d); s5(3)). Definitions in the instrument (s4) and the matters the ACCC must consider (s6) further reframe the inquiry’s scope toward market concentration, supplier practices and data-related issues."},"complexity_factors":["Broad, technology‑neutral definition of “digital platform services” that covers multiple distinct business models (s4: definitions; s5(2))","Explicit inclusion of digital advertising and data services supplied by platform providers and data brokers, expanding subject matter beyond traditional goods/services (s5(2)(b)–(c))","Specific statutory exclusions limiting inquiry scope (State/Territory supplies, exempt supplies, review of other Australian laws or Commonwealth programs) which require legal boundary-drawing (s5(1)(a)–(d))","Detailed list of competitive factors the ACCC must consider (concentration, supplier behaviour, pricing, data practices, barriers, M&A, innovation, overseas developments), increasing analytical breadth (s6)","Operational requirements for ongoing market monitoring and periodic interim reports, including confidentiality constraints on interim reports until Treasurer authorises publication (s7(1)–(2))","Long statutory timeframe to finalise the inquiry (completion by 31 March 2025) which affects staging of analysis and resource allocation (s8)","Direction that the inquiry must not target the supply by particular person(s), constraining investigative focus and evidentiary approach (s5(3))","Dependence on definitions and cross‑references to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 for key terms, creating reliance on external statutory interpretation (s4 note)"],"plain_english_summary":"This Direction requires the ACCC to hold a focused price inquiry into markets for “digital platform services” (search, social media, messaging, content aggregation, media referral, electronic marketplaces) and related digital advertising and data services, with interim reports and a final report due by 31 March 2025. \n\nIt affects digital platform providers, data brokers and advertisers by directing ACCC analysis toward market concentration, supplier behaviour, pricing, data practices and entry barriers, while excluding State/Territory supplies, exempt supplies, reviews of other laws or programs, and inquiries into particular persons."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-price-inquiry-digital-platforms-direction-2020","history":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-price-inquiry-digital-platforms-direction-2020/history","analysis":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-price-inquiry-digital-platforms-direction-2020/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-price-inquiry-digital-platforms-direction-2020/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-price-inquiry-digital-platforms-direction-2020/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-price-inquiry-digital-platforms-direction-2020/documents"}}