Eisenach Analyzes Telecom Company's Challenge to Australian Access Regulation

March 16, 2007

Criterion Chairman Jeffrey Eisenach's analysis of a new "takings" challenge to telecom regulation in Australia appears in the Spring 2007 edition of The Party Line: The Communications Industry Committee Newsletter, published by the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law. The piece, "A New Takings Challenge to Access Regulation," details the regulatory clashes Telstra, the Australian incumbent telecom company, has had with the Australian government in recent years.

On January 24, 2007, Telstra initiated a Constitutional challenge under Section 51(xxxi) of the Australian Constitution, the Australian version of the American Takings Clause. Telstra's concern is that mandated access prices imposed by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) fall short of the just terms requirement defined in Section 51.

Eisenach also explains how this case differs from the mostly unsuccessful efforts by U.S. telcos to bring similar challenges under the U.S. Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause, and suggests Telstra may have a better chance of success than those familiar with U.S. precedents might initially believe.

To read this article click here.