Today, the Federal Court class action brought against Visy and Amcor by victims of the cartel that the two firms operated in the supply of cardboard boxes, was settled. The settlement sum of A$95 million, plus costs, is the largest payout to cartel victims in Australian history. The class action included over four thousand group members from a range of industries that had originally sought more than A$1 billion in damages from Amcor and Visy. Amcor will pay two thirds of the damages and Visy will pay the remainder.

Frontier (Australia) advised Visy.

For more information, please contact Marita O’Keeffe at m.okeeffe@frontier-economics.com.au or call on +61 (0)3 9620 4488.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued interim access determinations for the six key fixed line telecommunications services under the new telecommunications access regime, which came into effect on 1 January 2011. The new regime allows the ACCC to set the key price and non-price terms of supply upfront, in a significant move away from the old ‘negotiate and arbitrate’ regime that had been in place since 1997. The ACCC has also switched to a new ‘building block’ methodology to set access prices, which is more conventionally used in energy access regimes, reflecting its acceptance that the new Australian National Broadband Network is likely to replace, rather than compete with, Telstra’s existing copper network.

Frontier (Australia) has advised members of the Competitive Carriers’ Coalition on implementing the new pricing methodology.

For more information, please contact Marita O’Keeffe at m.okeeffe@frontier-economics.com.au or call +61 (0)3 9620 4488.