The Competition and Consumer Act (2010) does not oblige landfill operators to refund early collected carbon tax charges to customers. Notwithstanding this, the ACCC has an ongoing interest in the use of early collected carbon tax revenue. The ACCC is required to monitor prices following the repeal of the carbon tax until June 2015. In addition to its monitoring role, the ACCC has a general role to ensure businesses do not engage in anti-competitive or cartel conduct, misleading and deceptive conduct or make false or misleading representations. The view in relation to the use of this money is that it ACCC’s should be refunded to customers where possible. ALOA and ALGA have advised that the industry intends to return the funds collected to customers where it is practicable to do so, either in a lump sum or by discounting future charges by an equivalent amount. This includes instances where: there is a contract in place between a landfill and an end customer that includes an obligation to refund carbon tax revenue in the event of carbon tax repeal; and there is a direct relationship between a landfill and a customer (including local councils using a privately owned landfill) and there is a record of the volume of waste deposited by the customer and/or the carbon charge paid. However, the majority of waste that is delivered to landfills is via a waste collection company and/or a transfer station. Where several parties are involved, the customer relationship makes it difficult to ensure that ‘indirect’ refunds paid to the party that deposited the waste would be passed down through the supply chain to the end consumer. ALOA and ALGA have advised that where it is not possible to issue refunds in a manner that ensures consumers benefit, they would prefer that the funds collected are used to achieve the purpose for which they were originally collected to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. – A The Government is committed to ensuring that consumers and businesses benefit from the removal of the carbon tax. However, the Government also recognises the unique circumstances facing the landfill sector and that a degree of flexibility is required to ensure that the requirement to issue refunds does not result in perverse outcomes. As such, the Government may be
The Competition and Consumer Act (2010) does not oblige landfill operators to refund early collected carbon tax charges to customers. Notwithstanding this, the ACCC has an ongoing interest in the use of early collected carbon tax revenue. The ACCC is required to monitor prices following the repeal of the carbon tax until June 2015. In addition to its monitoring role, the ACCC has a general role to ensure businesses do not engage in anti-competitive or cartel conduct, misleading and deceptive conduct or make false or misleading representations. The ACCC’s view in relation to the use of this money is that it should be refunded to customers where possible. ALOA and ALGA have advised that the industry intends to return the funds collected to customers where it is practicable to do so, either in a lump sum or by discounting future charges by an equivalent amount. This includes instances where: there is a contract in place between a landfill and an end customer that includes an obligation to refund carbon tax revenue in the event of carbon tax repeal; and there is a direct relationship between a landfill and a customer (including local councils using a privately owned landfill) and there is a record of the volume of waste deposited by the customer and/or the carbon charge paid. However, the majority of waste that is delivered to landfills is via a waste collection company and/or a transfer station. Where several parties are involved, the ‘indirect’ customer relationship makes it difficult to ensure that refunds paid to the party that deposited the waste would be passed down through the supply chain to the end consumer. ALOA and ALGA have advised that where it is not possible to issue refunds in a manner that ensures consumers benefit, they would prefer that the funds collected are used to achieve the purpose for which they were originally collected – to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. A The Government is committed to ensuring that consumers and businesses benefit from the removal of the carbon tax. However, the Government also recognises the unique circumstances facing the landfill sector and that a degree of flexibility is required to ensure that the requirement to issue refunds does not result in perverse outcomes. As such, the Government may be