Regulatory

The Australian regime for third party access to essential facilities presents a range of complex challenges on the two central aspects of the issue, obtaining (or defending against) a right of access and pricing.

Our market-leading experts have successfully acted for regulators and corporate entities defending regulatory proceedings in a range of industries. 

We advise clients in a range of sectors including gas pipelines and networks, electricity networks, ports, railways, airports, grain export terminals, coal handling facilities, petroleum processing facilities, gas storage reservoirs and oil terminals on:

• all aspects of access regulation under the Competition and Consumer Act, national electricity law, national gas law and state-based regimes
• broader strategic issues affecting access seekers and infrastructure owners
• access undertakings and arrangements including drafting submissions to regulators and compliance issues
• negotiating and drafting complex access agreements
• regulatory processes setting price and non-price terms of access (including submissions and responses to regulators’ determinations)
• access and pricing disputes before tribunals and courts including representation of clients and prosecuting appeals from regulatory determinations.

A number of our team members have qualifications in economics and understand the context for providing commercially focussed legal analysis of competition in markets dependent on infrastructure facilities, and of economic regulation of access terms and conditions.