The supermarket wars are over; for the moment at least. The ACCC is allowing Coles, Woolies, Aldi, Metcash and other grocery retailers to #collab in the name of keeping us all supplied with loo paper. And wine. The essentials.

Normally if competing businesses coordinate their supply chains, upstream or downstream, they are engaging in illegal cartel conduct. But you can get the ACCC's permission to coordinate if there are public benefits that outweigh the detriment of the anticompetitive conduct.

In this case the arguments were clear. The supermarkets weren't able to curb panic buying by themselves and working together would better allow them to address shortages and get people fair and reasonable access to fresh food, groceries, household products and liquor. They only want to do it for 6 months, or less if the pandemic subsides more quickly. Any supermarket can participate and any can opt out at any time. And they aren't seeking permission to fix prices. The ACCC accepted that the public benefits outweighed the detriments, and granted interim authorisation. It will conduct a public review and make a final decision in the next short while, but it's unlikely that it will change its position.

The supermarkets are an obvious industry where a little #collab might help right now. There will be others too: education services, health services and medical supplies might be candidates. In fact, just this afternoon the ACCC has given the green light to medical technology companies to coordinate on the supply of ventilators, testing kits and other equipment needed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

There's a natural desire among people to work together at a time like this; even competitors. If you allocate customers or suppliers or place any restriction on supplies or acquisitions then you'll need to seek authorisation from the ACCC. In this pandemic world, you could have strong arguments on public benefits, and the ACCC can act quickly to grant interim authorisation. Steer clear of price fixing though; it's also cartel conduct and the ACCC doesn't often recognise that it carries a public benefit.

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