CANBERRA—Australia has fallen behind some of its major trading partners in its pursuit of cartels, the nation's competition watchdog says.
Unlike countries such as the US, Canada and the UK, Australia does not have the power to send the worst cartel offenders to jail, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel says.
"In a world where major cartels often cross national borders, countries that do not have strong laws risk being seen as a soft target," Mr Samuel told the National Press Club.
"As we are finding in some of our international cartel investigations, countries without criminal sanctions are placed at the back of the queue in investigations.
"Understandably perhaps, companies deal first with competition authorities where their executives are facing jail and then worry about the other investigatory competition authorities later."
The Rudd Government, after many years of advocacy by the ACCC, was now proposing to strengthen those laws by the end of this year, Mr Samuel said.
The Government has released an exposure draft bill that includes criminal sanctions for cartels in the Trade Practices Act, while refreshing the anti-competitive agreement provisions more generally.
"This is an important reform that will create a much stronger disincentive for cartels forming," Mr Samuel said.
"It will also step up the pressure on cartel members to take advantage of the ACCC's immunity policy and report their fellow cartel members before they find themselves facing possible time behind bars.
"The threat of time behind bars becomes a powerful motivator for them to confess and save their own skins."
The ACCC has brought 21 alleged cartels to court since 2001, Mr Samuel said.
Since it introduced a cartel immunity policy in September 2005, the ACCC has had 40 applications for immunity under that policy - an average of about one a month.
"We currently have 21 alleged cartels under detailed investigation, with about half of these involving informants under our immunity policy.
"We also currently have six cartel matters in court."
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