January 23, 2019
Last year, the Court of Appeal released its decision in the Hamilton real estate agencies cartel case, Commerce Commission v Lodge Real Estate Limited. The agencies held a meeting in response to a dramatic increase in Trade Me advertising costs, and as a result each of...
April 8, 2018
I have previously posted about the fact that the government is proposing to criminalise cartel conduct, and that while I am generally supportive of this type of measure the hard policy work to ensure it works well doesn't seem to have been done in this case.
On Friday,...
February 6, 2018
NZME and Fairfax are New Zealand’s two largest media businesses. They want to merge their operations, but both the Commerce Commission and the
High Court have said that this would breach the Commerce Act. NZME and Fairfax have now announced that they are appealing thos...
November 16, 2017
The Commerce Commission suffered a blow to its ego with the release of High Court’s judgment in Commerce Commission v Lodge Real Estate Limited. The case dealt with high‑profile allegations of price‑fixing by real estate companies. Despite multiple parties settling wit...
April 16, 2017
Just before Easter, the Commerce Commission released the reasoning for its decision to decline clearance in the Sky TV-Vodafone merger. This is the first real opportunity to get a proper feel for the Commission’s approach, and the parties making the application will ce...
March 1, 2017
One of the most notable things about the Commerce Commission’s decision to decline clearance for the merger between Sky TV and Vodafone was that it was precisely opposite to the market’s expectations. In the lead up to the decision, Sky TV share prices rose around 5%....
February 23, 2017
September 5, 2016
When a merger or acquisition raises competition law concerns, one of the things the parties can do to get the Commerce Commission across the line is to offer to divest part of the merged business. This is known as a ‘structural’ undertaking. It is, essentially, a commi...
July 21, 2016
Today I made a submission to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment regarding its "Targeted Commerce Act Review". In particular, I argued for reform of section 36, the provision that is intended to stop powerful businesses harming the competitive process....
Things I like to read
Archive
This blog sets out some of my views about great government in New Zealand by examining topical issues or matters that I think are important. It aims to offer informed commentary on the public law implications of the things you hear about on the news, or perhaps the things you should be hearing more about in the media.
It is important to recognise that this blog is intended to be non‑partisan. However, as it is usually the government of the day that makes decisions that impact on constitutional and political power, so there will naturally be a focus on critical analysis of government action.
