What it does
The Competition Policy Reform (Northern Territory) Act 1996 is the legislative vehicle by which the Northern Territory adopted the national competition policy framework established by the Commonwealth Competition Policy Reform Act 1995. Its core function is to apply the Competition Code text, drawn from Part IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and related provisions, as a law of the Territory. Section 4(1) defines the Competition Code text as consisting of the Schedule version of Part IV of the Competition and Consumer Act, the remaining provisions of that Act (except sections 2A, 5, 6 and 172) so far as they would relate to the Schedule version if it were substituted for Part IV, and the regulations under that Act so far as they relate to those provisions. Under section 5(1), this Code text as in force for the time being applies as a law of the Territory, subject to section 6 which deals with future modifications. Section 6 provides that a modification made by a Commonwealth law to the Code text does not apply under section 5 until at least two months after the date of the modification, unless the Minister appoints an earlier date by notice in the Gazette, and does not apply at all if the Minister declares it excluded by notice. The Act also ensures uniform national administration: Part 5, Division 1 sets out that the object is to help ensure the Competition Codes of all participating jurisdictions are administered on a uniform basis as if they constituted a single Commonwealth law (section 18). The Act confers functions on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Competition Tribunal and the National Competition Council (section 19), confers jurisdiction on the Federal Court for all civil and criminal matters arising under the Competition Code of this jurisdiction (section 21), and excludes the jurisdiction of Territory courts except as preserved by cross-vesting laws (sections 22-23). It also applies Commonwealth criminal procedure and administrative laws to Code matters (Divisions 4 and 5). Part 4 binds the Crown in right of each jurisdiction so far as it carries on a business (sections 13-14), with specific exclusions for taxing, licensing and certain intra-government transactions (section 15). The Act contains transitional rules protecting existing contracts made before 19 August 1994 (section 41), a temporary exemption from pecuniary penalties for conduct within two years of royal assent to the Commonwealth Act (section 43), and a no-doubling-up provision preventing double punishment under the Code and the Commonwealth Act or another jurisdiction’s application law (section 34).