Submissions

Your submissions matter

We normally seek submissions from stakeholders and the public when we make our decisions. Getting your views helps us make well-informed and balanced decisions. We value your knowledge and perspectives as well as your ideas and opinions.

Your submissions can assist us in:

• understanding issues and trends and how they affect you
• understanding the impact our decisions have on you
• testing the accuracy and completeness of the evidence we rely on
• balancing the different needs and interests of our stakeholders
• balancing economic, social and environmental considerations
• achieving fair outcomes
• developing regulation.

Any person or organisation can make a submission. A submission can be your comments, arguments, concerns and/or recommendations and any evidence that you can to provide in support of your submissions. If you are going to give us your opinion, we prefer that you also give us evidence that supports your opinion.

How to make a submission

We accept written submissions by email and by post.

• If you are providing your submission by post, please send your material to GPO Box 158, Canberra ACT 2601.
• If you are submitting as an individual, please include your name and contact details. We cannot give weight to anonymous submissions as we are not able to follow up with any questions or verify the source. Please note that we will not disclose your personal information to the public.
• If you are submitting on behalf of a company or organisation, please tell us your position in the company, your name, and your best contact details. We will not disclose the contact details to the public.
• We have designed a cover sheet for your convenience. Using this document is optional. You do not need to fill out a cover sheet to lodge a submission.
• If you are sending your submission by email, please address it to the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission at icrc@act.gov.au.

While we are happy to receive your feedback at any time, there are some occasions when the opportunity to have your written submission considered as part of our decision-making process is time sensitive. If a matter is time sensitive, we will advise you of any deadlines on our website.

Please contact our office by telephone at (02) 6205 0799 or by email at icrc@act.gov.au if you have any questions about deadline for submissions. If you need an extension of time, please contact us as soon as you can and explain why you need an extension.

Confidential information

We prefer to make all submissions publicly available so that everyone who is affected by our decisions can see the information we considered in making our decision. This also allows us to test the evidence and arguments given to us so that our decisions are based on the best information available to us.

But we recognise that there can be good reasons why some information should be kept confidential.

We will make all submissions we receive publicly available on our website, unless you give us good reasons why we should not provide this information to the public.

Any confidentiality claims should be made clearly on the front page and the relevant sections should be marked ‘confidential’ so that the rest of the submission can be made available to the public.

You should also explain to us why the material should not be disclosed to the public. For example, does the submission contain legal advice from your lawyer or information that is commercially sensitive?

When we assess confidentiality claims, we consider whether:

• the confidentiality claim is specific or broad. It is unlikely we will accept that an entire document or submission is confidential. Specific claims have a better chance of being accepted as confidential
• the information is already publicly available
• the disclosure will harm a person or organisation
• it is in the public interest to make this information available.

If you have any concerns about how we will treat information that may be confidential, please contact us to raise your concerns with us before submitting. We can then discuss with you in advance whether the material would be disclosed and explore options for protecting your confidential information.

Personal information

Your privacy will be protected. We will remove your name, address and email before we publish your submission.

For more information, please see the ICRC Disclosure Guidelines.

For more information

You can contact us for more information on how to make a submission and about how we treat submissions. Our contact details are: