Section 66 Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018
Section 66 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018 is about Withholding of products from a dealer by a supplier. It is under Part VIII (Restrictive Agreements) of the Act.
(1) For the purposes of this Part, an undertaking shall be treated as withholding goods or services from a dealer if-
(a) the undertaking refuses to supply those goods or services to the order of the dealer;
(b) the undertaking refuses to supply those goods or services to the dealer except at prices or on terms or conditions as to credit, discount or other matters which are significantly less favourable than those at or on which the undertaking normally supplies those goods or services to other dealers carrying on business in similar circumstances; or
(c) although the undertaking enters into an agreement to supply goods or services to the dealer, the undertaking treats the dealer in a manner significantly less favourable than that in which it normally treats other dealers in respect of times or methods of delivery or other matters arising in the execution of the agreement.
(2) An undertaking shall not be treated as withholding goods or services on any ground mentioned in this Part if, in addition to that ground, the undertaking has other grounds which, standing alone, would have led the undertaking to withhold those goods or services.
(3) Subject to subsection (5), where in the proceedings brought against an undertaking in respect of a contravention of the provisions of subsection (1), the matters specified in subsection ( 4) are proved, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that the goods or services concerned were withheld on the ground that the dealer had acted or was likely to act as described in subsection (1).
( 4) The matters referred to in subsection (3) are –
(a) supplies of goods or services were withheld from a dealer;
(b) during a period ending immediately before the supplies were so withheld, the undertaking was doing business with the dealer or was supplying goods or services of the same description to other dealers carrying on business in similar circumstances; and
(c) the dealer, to the undertaking’s knowledge, had within the preceding six months, acted as described in subsection (1) of this Act or had indicated its intention to act in relation to the goods or services in question.
(5) The provisions of subsections (3) and (4) shall not apply where the proof that goods or services were withheld consists only of evidence of requirements imposed by the undertaking in respect of the time at which or the form in which payment was to be made for goods or services supplied or to be supplied.
