Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L01112:body:0:p7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017L01112
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 16155–18998

undertaking is not accepted by the ACCC, the interim determination would continue in effect unless revoked or until such a time as the ACCC issues a final determination in relation to the arbitration.
Where an access provider chooses to wait until after the ACCC has commenced the substantive phase of an arbitration before giving an access undertaking, there is a higher likelihood of the ACCC continuing with an arbitration even if only to make an interim determination, although the ACCC reserves the right to follow this course even where an access undertaking is submitted at an earlier stage.

Additional issues
Part IIIA provides general guidance on what should be included in an undertaking. An access undertaking might not deal with every aspect of access to a service. Consequently, where arbitrations deal with issues additional to those covered in the undertaking, it may be appropriate to continue the arbitral process on those issues, even where arbitration and access undertaking processes begin at a similar time. This approach is reflected in the provision of s. 44ZZCB(1)(c), which provides that an arbitration can be deferred in whole or in part.
For instance, in the case of a declared service, where the ACCC is conducting arbitrations on both price and non-price issues, it may be given an undertaking that only deals with price. The ACCC could therefore defer consideration of the price issues in the context of arbitrations (leaving this to be assessed as part of the access undertaking process) but proceed with consideration of the non-price issues. This would then enable the ACCC to finalise the arbitrations once the pricing issues covered by the access undertaking have been addressed.
In the case of a non-declared service, the acceptance of an access undertaking relating to the service will preclude the possibility of declaration. If a service provider submits an access undertaking for a non-declared service that only deals with terms and conditions related to price, alternative mechanisms to deal with non-price terms and conditions may be required. This may, for example, involve private commercial arbitration between the parties in the event of a dispute.

Arbitration time frame
While the CCA establishes a six-month time frame for consideration of an access undertaking, this can be extended, and more than one extension is possible. Further information about the time frame for completing an arbitration is included in the ACCC guide titled Arbitrations: a guide to resolution of access disputes under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act (April 2006). While the ACCC endeavours to consider access undertakings in an expeditious manner, it is possible that access undertakings involving complex issues could take longer to assess.
In such circumstances, it may be appropriate to continue the conduct