New Zealand: Commerce Commission releases 2019/20 priorities

Speaking at the New Zealand Commerce Commission’s competition and regulation conference, Competition Matters 2019, in Auckland on Thursday, July 25, Chair Anna Rawlings said there were four broad groups of priorities for the Commission this year – enduring priorities, focus areas, connecting, and legislative change.

“Enduring priorities are the areas the Commission will always regard as a priority due to their potential to have a significant impact on consumers, business or markets in New Zealand or because they are a core part of our statutory role. These include credit issues, product safety, merger clearances and functions in critical infrastructure industries like energy and telecommunications,” she said.

Each year the Commission targets its resources on specific areas which are important to everyday life and the economy. This year there are eight focus areas:

• Environmental claims
• Online retail
• Motor vehicle financing and related add-ons
• Educating traders about conduct that may contravene cartel laws
• Consulting on and completing the fuel market study
• Resetting the five-year revenue limits and quality standards for electricity networks
• Monitoring and reporting on telecommunications retail service quality
• New up-front regulatory rules for fiber broadband services.