Application for certification of the NSW water infrastructure access regime

On 31 July 2019, the Council received an application under section 44NA of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) from the Premier of NSW, the Hon Gladys Berejiklian MP, for certification of the NSW third-party access regime for water infrastructure services.

Certification is sought for the regime for access to water industry infrastructure set out in Part 3 of the Water Industry Competition Act 2006 (NSW) (WIC Access Regime). The WIC Access Regime was certified on 13 August 2009 by the then Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs as an effective access regime, for a period of ten years. The applicant requests that the Council recommend to the Minister that that the regime be certified for a further period of ten years.

A copy of the application and the relevant legislation are available under the Application tab.

The Council invited interested parties to make written submissions on the application by 13 September 2019. No submissions were received.

On 12 December 2019, the Council released its Draft Recommendation on the New South Wales Government’s application for certification of the New South Wales water infrastructure access regime. The Council's proposed recommendation to the Commonwealth Minister (the Treasurer) is that the regime be certified as effective for a period of ten years (from 13 August 2019 to 12 August 2029).

The Council invited written submissions on the Draft Recommendation from interested parties. The closing date for submissions was 10 January 2020. No submissions were received. 

On 1 February 2020, the Minister, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, received a recommendation for certification of the NSW third-party access regime for water infrastructure services from the Council under section 44NA of the CCA. The Council recommended that that the New South Wales water infrastructure access regime be certified as effective for a period of ten years (from 13 August 2019 to 12 August 2029).

Under section 44NB(3A) of the CCA, if the Minister has not published a decision within the period starting at the start of the day the recommendation is received and ending 60 days after that day, the designated Minister is taken, immediately after the end of that 60-day period, to have made and published his decision in accordance with the recommendation by the Council.

The 60-day period in relation to the recommendation made by the Council to certify the regime ended on 31 March 2020. The Minister has not published a decision on the Council’s recommendation by the end of this date. Accordingly, it is taken that a decision to certify the regime has been made. The Minister made a statement confirming his decision.  

The Council’s recommendation is available under the Final Recommendation and decision tab.