Competition law and policy is currently one of the most controversial areas of law and governmental activity. Competition law, in the form Part IV of the Trade Practices Act 1974, regulates competition by proscribing horizontal and vertical practices which are either per se anti-competitive or substantially affect competition. Competition policy, as expressed in the National Competition Policy, represents the framework for legal change creating and encouraging the developments of markets. This subject addresses both of these topics, dealing both substantially and critically with the economic theory which underpins competition policy and law, the legal techniques involved in creating and encouraging markets, and the laws regulating competition. Students will, inter alia, undertake a number of case studies in competition policy and learn how the law regulating competition applies to various business practices.

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