DEI Queensland Pipeline Pty Ltd v Australian Competition & Consumer Commission [2002] ACompT 2

AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION TRIBUNAL DEI Queensland Pipeline Pty Ltd v Australian Competition & Consumer Commission [2002] ACompT 2 TRADE PRACTICES – access to pipelines – application for review of a decision of the ACCC to draft and approve an access arrangement for the Wallumbilla to Rockhampton Pipeline System – s 2.20 of the National Third Party Access Code for Natural Gas Pipeline Systems requires the ACCC to draft and approve its own access arrangements for the pipeline – s 3.17 of the Code specifies that an access arrangement must include review dates, having regard to the objectives of s 8.1 – s 3.17(ii) specifies that the ACCC may, in approving review dates, require that "specific major events" be defined that trigger an obligation on the pipeline owner to submit revisions prior to the review date – s 8.1 of the Code specifies general principles and objectives the ACCC should consider when drafting a Reference Tariff and Reference Tariff Policy for an access arrangement – ACCC drafted and approved an access arrangement that included a provision requiring the pipeline owner to submit revisions to the access arrangement within one month of the ACCC notifying it that a "specific major event" had occurred – whether the ACCC had power to include this provision – whether the objectives in s 8.1 are confined to tariff elements of an access arrangement – whether the reference in s 3.17 to s 8.1 impliedly limits the power in s 3.17 to trigger events only concerning the Reference Tariff – power in s 3.17 not confined to trigger events only concerning the Reference Tariff

National Third Party Access Code for Natural Gas Pipeline Systems s 1.1, 1.7, 1.8, 2, 2.2(b), 2.5, 2.13, 2.16(b), 2.19, 2.20, 2.24, 2.46, 3, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.17, 3.17(a), 3.17(b), 3.17(i), 3.17(ii), 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, 3.5, 3.8, 8, 8.1, 8.1(e), 10.8 Gas Pipelines Access (Queensland) Act 1998 (Qld)s 58, 58(1)(b), 58(1)(c), 58(2), 58(3), 58(4) Gas Pipelines Access (South Australia) Act 1997 (SA) Pearce & Geddes Statutory Interpretation in Australia 5th ed. par4.34.