About Us

Ministerial Control of the Commission | Social environmental and other mandatory considerations in Inquiries | Where we are located

The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is a statutory body set up to regulate prices, access to infrastructure services and other matters in relation to regulated industries and to investigate competitive neutrality complaints and government-regulated activities. The Commission also has responsibility for licensing utility services and ensuring compliance with licence conditions.

The Commission's objectives are defined in two principal Acts:

Ministerial Control of the Commission

Under the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission Act 1997, the Commission is responsible to the Attorney General for administrative matters such as the management and reporting of its human, physical and financial resources. It is also subject to the accountability mechanisms of the Legislative Assembly.

For the purposes of the Utilities Act 2000, the Commission is responsible to the Minister for the Environment, Water and Climate Change.

The Commission is not subject to the direction or control of the Minister or any other referring authority in relation to any investigation, price direction, report, access agreement or arbitration, except where provided by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission Act 1997 or another law of the Territory.

Social environmental and other mandatory considerations in Inquiries

The Commission is required by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission Act 1997 to consider a wide range of issues in determining its views. While many of the issues the Commission considers are financial and economic in nature, there is a strong element of social and environmental concern in the Commission's inquiries. For example, in all its inquiries that involves Section 20 of the ICRC Act, the Commission is required to consider:

protection of consumers from abuses of monopoly power in relation to both prices and standards of service;
standards of quality, reliability and safety of services;
principles of ecologically sustainable development and
social impacts of decisions

In both the ICRC and the Utilities Acts, the Commission is directed to consider such issues in its assessment of the public interest.

Where we are located

The ICRC office is located at: Level 2, 12 Moore Street, Canberra City ACT 2601.

The postal address is: GPO Box 296, Canberra City ACT 2601.

The ICRC contact details are: telephone number (02) 6205 0799; facsimile number: (02) 6207 5887; and email: icrc@act.gov.au

For information on current issues please go to the What's New page