Part III of the Act:
- prohibits mergers and acquisitions that substantially lessen competition;
- allows the Commission to grant a clearance for acquisitions where it is satisfied that the proposed acquisition will not have or would not be likely to have the effect of substantially lessening of competition in a market; and
- allows the Commission to grant an authorisation for acquisitions that would result in a substantial lessening of competition, if the public benefits resulting from the acquisition are found to outweigh the detriments.
Clearances
Under the Commerce Act, the Commerce Commission considers applications for the clearance of proposed mergers or acquisitions that might substantially lessen competition in a market, where the applicants wish to obtain protection from legal challenge either from the Commission or from other parties in the market.
Authorisations
Under the Commerce Act, the Commerce Commission is able to grant authorisations for proposed mergers and acquisitions that will result or will be likely to result, in a substantial lessening of competition in a market if it finds that the public benefit directly attributable to the transaction outweighs any detriment.
