Submission to the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission’s consultation on potential activities suitable for a class exemption

A class exemption from the ACCC provides a ‘safe harbour’ from competition law for collaborative business activities that are a net public benefit and / or do not actually harm competition.

The Office’s submission recommends the ACCC introduce a class exemption for modern slavery focused collaborations, to help businesses more effectively identify, prevent and mitigate and remediate modern slavery. The submission highlights that the class exemption would help decrease uncertainty among businesses about competition law risks, which can deter collaboration. The submission highlights that by collaborating to combat modern slavery, businesses can avoid duplicative efforts, reduce conflicting expectations on suppliers, increase leverage and drive change at scale to improve outcomes for workers in modern slavery.