New Zealand, 2001

New Zealand's competition statute is the Commerce Act of 1986, substantially amended in 2001. The most recent version is available from the New Zealand government's website In 2004-5, provisions governing electric service were added, which don't change the scoring.

Score = 15

Governed by: The Commerce Act 1986 (most recently amended in 2005).

Category	Subcategory	Score	Comment
Scope	Extraterritoriality	1	§4 says that the Act applies to actions that affect New Zealand markets.
Remedies	Fines	1	§80 allows the imposition of penalties of up to the greater of $10M, 10% of corporate profits, or triple the gain from the offending conduct.
	Prison Sentences	1	§80E allows for imprisonment in the case of violations of a subset of court-imposed penalties.
	Divestitures	1	§85 allows for forced divestiture of companies who violate merger rules.
Private Enforcement	3rd Party Initiation	1	§84 allows third parties to petition courts for injunctive relief, and §82 allows them to bring actions for damages.
	Remedies Available to 3rd Parties	1	§82 allows third parties to bring suits for damages
	3rd Party Rights in Proceedings	1	§60-64 allow third parties to participate in conferences on whether to approve potentially anticompetitive mergers and actions.
Merger Notification	Voluntary	1	§66(1) says that companies may seek Commission approval for mergers
	Mandatory	0
	Pre-merger	0
	Post-merger	1
Merger Assessment	Dominance	0
	Restriction of Competition	1	§47 prohibits mergers which will substantially lessen competition
	Public Interest (Pro D)	1	§67 (3)(b) says that mergers where the public benefit outweighs the loss in competition should be permitted.
	Public Interest (Pro Authority)	0
	Other	0
	Efficiency	1	§ 3A says that public benefit calculations must include efficiency.
Dominance	Limits Access	0
	Abusive Acts	1	§36 prohibits taking advantage of a dominant position to stop competition
	Price Setting	0
	Discriminatory Pricing	0
	Resale Price Maintenance	1	§37 prohibits resale price maintenance
	Obstacles to Entry	1	§36(1) prohibits using substantial market power to block entry.
	Efficiency Defense	1	§3A and §61 allow the Commission to consider efficiency in deciding whether to permit anticompetitive conduct.
Restrictive Trade Practices	Price Fixing	1	§30(1) prohibits price fixing
	Tying	0
	Market Division	0
	Output Restraint	0
	Market Sharing	0
	Eliminating Competitors	0
	Collusive Tendering/Bid-Rigging	0
	Supply Refusal	1	§29 prohibits supply refusal
	Efficiency Defense	1	§3A and §61 allow the Commission to consider efficiency in deciding whether to permit anticompetitive conduct.