The Tribunal, constituted by appointed members (including judicially‑qualified presidential members), hears cases, records findings and reasons, and may make orders restricting parties from enforcing or entering into particular agreements or practices (s9–17; s49–52). Tribunal orders have the force of law and may be enforced as contempt (s57, s67–69).

What businesses and people must do

• Agreements between businesses that are competitors and contain specified kinds of restrictions (price/terms, supply quantities, territories, customer classes, etc.) are "examinable agreements" (s35). Certain commercial practices (price discrimination inducements, forcing tied purchases, inducing refusal to deal, monopolisation) are "examinable practices" (s36–37).

• If an agreement is examinable and not exempt, parties must file particulars with the Commissioner within 30 days of it becoming subject to registration (s41–42). Failure to furnish particulars is a criminal offence punishable by a fine (s43).

• The Commissioner may compel information and documents by written notice when he has reason to believe a person can give information about examinable agreements or practices (s103). The Commissioner may copy and temporarily retain documents produced (s104). Answers to compelled notices are protected from use in most criminal proceedings (s103(3)).

• There are specific criminal offences and penalties for collusive tendering and collusive bidding (making identical tenders or joint bids to restrict competition), with different maximum fines for corporations and individuals (s85–86). Various procedural defences and limited exemptions are provided (s85(4)–(6), s86(4)–(5), s87).

How the Tribunal decides and what it must balance

• The Tribunal must start from competition as desirable (s50(1)) but may weigh against any detriment to competition the effects of the restriction or practice on a set of enumerated matters: consumers, employees, producers, small business, new enterprises, efficient use of resources, efficient production and export competitiveness (s50(2)). For monopolisation cases the Tribunal applies a defined market share test (supplier of at least one‑third of the relevant goods or services) before finding monopolisation (s37(1)–(2)).

Practical incentives and costs (mechanisms, not judgments)

• Who pays: parties to examinable agreements bear the direct administrative cost of registration and the legal risk of Tribunal proceedings (registration and particulars obligations, s41–45, s42–43). Parties who contravene Tribunal orders or who engage in collusive tendering/bidding may face fines, imprisonment, or contempt proceedings (s43, s67–69, s85–86, s68).

• What decisions the state makes: the Commissioner and the Tribunal exercise substantial discretion — the Commissioner in choosing to investigate, seek negative clearance, or bring proceedings (s47, s59), and the Tribunal in weighing public interest factors, shaping orders, setting effective dates and interim relief (s50, s52–54). The Attorney‑General also has a role to direct investigations and must consent to prosecutions and contempt proceedings in some cases (s47(4), s68(5), s101(4)).

• Compliance and administrative burden: businesses must assess whether agreements are examinable, prepare and lodge full particulars (including whole terms, verified by statutory declaration where required, s42(5)–(6)), respond to Commissioner notices (s103), and may need to seek Tribunal leave or negative certificates to secure legal certainty (s59, s61). Failure to comply can lead to criminal penalties (s43, s103(2)).

• Bureaucratic discretion and implementation risk: the Commissioner's investigatory and instituting powers (s47, s103), his delegation power (s32), and the Tribunal’s broad procedural discretion (s70) concentrate decision power in administrative officials and Tribunal members. That produces legal uncertainty where rights depend on an administrative decision (for example whether to file a certificate or commence proceedings) and increases the practical importance of access to the Tribunal’s review mechanisms (s62–66; s58 for variation on change of circumstances).

Trade‑offs, market effects and behavioural responses (mechanisms identified in the text)

• The law restricts parties’ contractual freedom where agreements would accept certain restrictive terms (s35). That reduces the legal viability of specified collusive or exclusionary arrangements, and creates incentives for businesses to seek lawful paths to the same commercial objectives (for example seeking exemptions, making use of expressly authorised statutory regimes, or restructuring contracts to fit exemptions in s38–39 and s87).

• The Act creates a legal route to certainty: the negative clearance / Tribunal order process (s59, s61) lets businesses obtain advance assurance that particular agreements/practices will not be treated as contrary to the public interest. That assurance is time‑limited and subject to Tribunal scrutiny (minimum periods in s61(4)–(5)); obtaining it requires engaging with the Commissioner and Tribunal process.

• Concentrated benefits vs diffuse costs: orders that invalidate or restrain particular restrictions will concentrate benefits on competitors and potentially consumers, while the administrative and compliance costs fall on the businesses that used the restricted agreements (see s51–52 on effect of determinations and s42–43 on particulars and penalties).

• Substitution and avoidance: the Act recognises exemptions and narrowly defined exceptions (s38–39, s87). Businesses may substitute toward arrangements that fall outside the definitions of examinable restrictions (for example arrangements covered by patent/licence exceptions at s38(f)). The Tribunal must consider whether a restriction’s public interest detriment is offset by enumerated benefits (s50(2)), which is the statutory mechanism allowing some otherwise restrictive agreements to remain lawful.

Other implementation points

• The Act provides confidentiality protections for Commissioner and staff (s34), but also provides for limited disclosure to Ministers and for production of particulars to parties identified in filings (s34(4)).

• The Tribunal has its own review and internal appeal/reconsideration route (Review Division, s62–65) and may refer legal questions to the Commonwealth Industrial Court (s66). Tribunal determinations must state reasons and may be rescinded or varied upon changed circumstances (s49(2), s58).

Sections to look at first if you are a business or adviser: definitions and scope (s5, s35–39), registration and particulars (s40–45), Commissioner powers and compulsory notices (s23, s47, s103–104), negative clearances and applications (s59–61), Tribunal orders and enforcement (s49–54, s67–69), and criminal prohibitions on collusion (s85–87).