THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has agreed to varying authorisation granted to the Australian Property Institute.
The ACCC previously made a determination in February this year to the API’s authorisation A90545.
ACCC’s authorisation provides protection from court action for conduct or arrangements that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
Authorisation is granted where the ACCC is satisfied that the benefit to the public from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.
The API’s authorisation A90545 covers the API’s code of ethics, rules of conduct and specific clauses of the API’s constitution and by laws along with relevant definitions.
ACCC’s chairman Graeme Samuel said the ACCC considers that the proposed changes lodged by the API are minor in nature and do not reduce the benefits associated with the authorisation.
“In particular the ACCC considers that its previous concerns have been addressed with API now allowing appeal processes in relation to lower level complaints. The ACCC considers that this variation will better ensure procedural fairness.
“The ACCC has also accepted that there is likely to be an increased benefit to the public by preventing student members from conducting unsupervised valuations, which is currently permitted by the API rules,” Samuel concluded.
Australian Property Journal
