摘要：The Trade Practices Amendment (Cartel Conduct and Other Measures) Bill 2008 (Cth)controversially proposes the introduction of criminal sanctions for certain cartel behaviour. These measures were recommended by the Dawson Committee in its 2003 review, 1 and not surprisingly have the support of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).2 In this article, I will introduce the proposed new rules,3 before assessing whether cartel conduct should be criminalised, in terms of traditional conceptions of what behaviour should be considered to be criminal in nature, as well as the likely effectiveness of the new regime in terms of deterring cartel behaviour, and enforcing cartel provisions more generally.
