Cooperation in a Crisis: The ACCC’s New Streamlined Authorisation Pathway for Exceptional Circumstances

In this piece for Malleson’s Pulse blog, authors Jade Tan & Peta Stevenson examine Australia’s new Competition and Consumer Amendment (Responding to Exceptional Circumstances) Bill 2026, which significantly expands the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) ability to authorise coordination between competitors during times of crisis. The reforms establish a faster, simpler, and fee-free process that allows businesses to collaborate when exceptional circumstances threaten the economy or consumers.

The authors explain that the legislation introduces a new “exceptional circumstances declaration,” enabling the Treasurer to activate the ACCC’s streamlined authorisation powers without requiring the higher threshold of a formal national emergency. This new mechanism complements and consolidates the previous emergency framework, allowing the ACCC to grant expedited authorisations or issue class exemptions whenever either an exceptional circumstances declaration or a national emergency declaration is in force.

Compared with the standard authorisation process, the new pathway substantially reduces regulatory burdens. Applications no longer require public consultation, incur no application fees, and may even receive retrospective authorisation for eligible conduct dating back to 1 April 2026. Rather than demonstrating that public benefits outweigh public detriments, applicants need only show that the proposed coordination would assist in responding to or recovering from the declared crisis.

The authors consider that the reforms provide businesses with a much more practical mechanism for responding collectively to economic disruptions, reflecting lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they also highlight concerns about the speed with which the legislation passed Parliament and the limited scrutiny it received, raising questions about whether existing parliamentary oversight mechanisms will prove sufficient for such broad new executive and regulatory powers…