Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) To be valid, an application for an authorisation, a minor variation of an authorisation, a revocation of an authorisation, or a revocation of an authorisation and the substitution of another authorisation, must:
(a) be in a form approved by the Commission in writing and contain the information required by the form; and
(b) be accompanied by any other information or documents prescribed by the regulations; and
(c) be accompanied by the fee (if any) prescribed by the regulations.
(1AA) Without limiting paragraph (1)(a), the form may require an application for a merger authorisation to contain an undertaking under section 87B that the applicant will not make the acquisition to which the authorisation relates while the Commission is considering the application.
(1A) If the Commission receives a purported application that it considers is not a valid application, it must, within 5 business days of receiving the purported application, give the person who made the purported application a written notice:
(a) stating that the person has not made a valid application; and
(b) giving reasons why the purported application does not comply with this Division.
(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1A), business day means a day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday in the Australian Capital Territory.
(2) If the Commission receives an application referred to in subsection (1), the Commission must cause notice of the receipt of that application to be made public in such manner as it thinks fit.
(3) The Commission must keep a register of:
(a) applications for authorisations; and
(b) applications for minor variations of authorisations; and
(c) applications for, or the Commission's proposals for, the revocation of authorisations; and
(d) applications for, or the Commission's proposals for, the revocation of authorisations and the substitution of other authorisations;
including applications that have been withdrawn or proposals that have been abandoned.
(4) Subject to this section, the register kept under subsection (3) shall include:
(a) any document furnished to the Commission in relation to an application or proposal referred to in subsection (3);
(aa) any draft determination, and any summary of reasons, by the Commission that is furnished to a person under section 90A, or under that section as applied by section 91C;
(ab) any record of a conference made in accordance with subsection 90A(8), or with that subsection as applied by section 91C, and any certificate in relation to a conference given under subsection 90A(9), or under that subsection as so applied;
(b) particulars of any oral submission made to the Commission in relation to such an application or proposal; and
(c) the determination of the Commission on such an application or proposal and the statement of the reasons given by the Commission for that determination.
(5) Where a person furnishes a document to the Commission in relation to an application or proposal referred to in subsection (3) or makes an oral submission to the Commission in relation to such an application or proposal, he or she may, at the time when the document is furnished or the submission is made, request that the document or a part of the document, or that particulars of the submission or of part of the submission, be excluded from the register kept under subsection (3) by reason of the confidential nature of any of the matters contained in the document or submission.
(5A) Where such a request is made:
(a) if the document or the part of the document, or the submission or the part of the submission, to which the request relates contains particulars of:
(i) a secret formula or process;
(ii) the cash consideration offered for the acquisition of shares in the capital of a body corporate or assets of a person; or
(iii) the current costs of manufacturing, producing or marketing goods or services;
the Commission shall exclude the document or the part of the document, or particulars of the submission or of the part of the submission, as the case may be, from the register kept under subsection (3); and
(b) in any other case--the Commission may, if it is satisfied that it is desirable to do so by reason of the confidential nature of the matters contained in the document or the part of the document, or in the submission or the part of the submission, exclude the document or the part of the document, or particulars of the submission or of the part of the submission, as the case may be, from that register.
(5B) If the Commission refuses a request to exclude a document or a part of a document from the register kept under subsection (3), the Commission shall, if the person who furnished the document to the Commission so requires, return the document or part of the document to him or her and, in that case, paragraph (4)(a) does not apply in relation to the document or part of the document.
(5C) If the Commission refuses a request to exclude particulars of an oral submission or of part of an oral submission from the register kept under subsection (3), the person who made the submission may inform the Commission that he or she withdraws the submission or that part of the submission and, in that case, paragraph (4)(b) does not apply in relation to the submission or that part of the submission, as the case may be.
(5D) Where the Commission is satisfied that it is desirable to do so for any reason other than the confidential nature of matters contained in a document or submission, the Commission may exclude a document or part of a document referred to in paragraph (4)(a) or particulars referred to in paragraph (4)(b) from the register kept under subsection (3).
(5E) If a person requests, in accordance with subsection (5) that a document or a part of a document, or that particulars of a submission or of part of a submission, be excluded from the register kept under subsection (3), the document or part of the document, or particulars of the submission or of the part of the submission, shall not be included in that register until the Commission has made a determination in relation to the request.
(6) A document shall not be included in the register kept under subsection (3) if a direction in relation to that document was in force under paragraph 22(1)(b) of this Act immediately before the commencement of the Trade Practices Amendment Act 1977 .
(7) The Commission may disclose information excluded under this section from the register kept under subsection (3) to such persons and on such terms as it considers reasonable and appropriate for the purposes of making its determination on the application concerned.