Vehicle Import Services - Fisherman Islands
Application for Declaration of Vehicle Import Services
On 17 July 2009, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) lodged with the Authority an application under section 77(1) of the Queensland Competition Authority Act 1997 (the QCA Act) requesting that the Authority recommend to the relevant Ministers (the Premier and the Treasurer) that the vehicle import service provided at Fisherman Islands be declared for the purposes of third party access.
In response to a request from the Authority, on 15 September 2009 the FCAI provided further information to clarify the facilities and services to which their declaration request relates. A copy of this response is available for download here.
Candidate service matter
The Authority can only consider this application if vehicle services are a 'candidate service' as defined under the QCA Act; that is, a candidate service is a service provided by a facility that is either: a public facility (i.e. partly or entirely owned by the State or a government agency) or a private facility that had been declared under regulation to be a 'candidate service'.
Following a public consultation process, the Authority received three submissions on this issue. A copy of these submissions is available for download here. On 22 October 2009, the Authority formed the view that the vehicle import services at the Fisherman Islands facility is a candidate service for the purposes of Part 5 of the QCA Act. The Authority's statement of reasons is available here.
On 16 December 2009, Australian Amalgamated Terminals (AAT) provided a further submission in response to the Authority’s decision on the candidate service matter. To enable AAT’s submission to be fully considered, the Authority adopted the following process:
- stakeholder submissions were sought on AAT's further submission by Friday 22 January 2010; and
- AAT was invited to make any submission in reply (confined to issues raised in further submissions from other interested parties no later than Friday 29 January 2010; and
Stakeholder submissions and AAT's submissions in reply are available for download here.
The Authority will now consider whether it remains of the view that the vehicle import service is a 'candidate service' for the purpose of the QCA Act.
Declaration criteria matter
The Authority has also received submissions from interested parties regarding whether vehicle import services at Fisherman Islands satisfy the access criteria in s.76 of the QCA Act and whether the Authority should recommend that they be declared.
Stakeholder submissions are available for download here.
After consideration of all submissions received, the Authority will release a draft decision on the matter of whether the vehicle import service or part of the service should be recommended to the Ministers for declaration. All interested parties will be given the chance to comment on the draft decision. All comments on the draft decision will be taken into account in the Authority's final decision on this matter.
If you have any questions on this matter, please contact Paul Bilyk on 07 3222 0506.
Decision/Recommendation
Submissions
Interim Reports/Papers
