Frank Chung and AAP MARCH 16, 2016 news.com.au Retailers have previously warned an effects test could force them to raise prices. COLES, Woolworths and other big retailers could be forced to raise their prices following a surprise backflip by Malcolm Turnbull. The Federal Government has endorsed changes to competition laws which would protect small business against the misuse of market power by bigger players. Cabinet signed off on the “effects test” this week and the Coalition party room was briefed on it on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters, Mr Turnbull, who previously argued against an effects test, said this was “yet again my government taking long overdue reforms out of the too-hard basket”. “This is a vital economic reform,” he said. “We know that while larger firms are often very innovative and competitive, they are more innovative if the hot breath of competition is coming down their neck.” The small business…

RUKI SAYID , RHIAN LUBIN , DAN BLOOM 16 MAR 2016 Mirror UK George Osborne’s sugar tax could add up to 24p to a litre of Coca Cola, it has been revealed. The dramatic forecast is made by the Chancellor’s independent experts after he made his shock announcement today. It would add a similar hike to Fanta, Irn Bru, ginger ale and Ribena, our research shows. And Fanta, tonic water and Coke Life would all be hit by a 18p-a-litre lower rate. Read more: Budget 2016 live: George Osborne reveals sugar tax, Lifetime ISA and boost for the rich Have your say in our comments section below The tax from 2018-19, which does not include fresh juices or milk products, is being levied on drinks firms, not customers – and will pay for a doubling of sport funding in schools. Osborne and Fizzy DrinksGeorge Osborne’s sugar tax will hit fizzy…

STEPHEN BARTHOLOMEUSZ 15 MAR, 2016 Spectator Last week the International Energy Agency speculated that oil prices might have bottomed. Yesterday OPEC said its output fell in February. Yet the oil price slipped back below $US40 a barrel overnight. A large part of the explanation for why the price had risen more than 40 per cent from its January low of $US27.82 a barrel was the prospect of an agreement between OPEC and the big non-OPEC producers to freeze their output. That possibility was raised by an agreement announced by Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela in February. Their “offer”, however, was rather cynical and came with a very large asterisk. In a market where supply already outstrips demand by about two million barrels a day and where global inventories are at record levels they were offering to freeze their output at January’s record levels. Moreover — and here’s the asterisk…

Gareth Hutchens March 16, 2016 The Age The Turnbull government has adopted the most controversial recommendation from the Harper review of Australia’s competition laws. It has approved the implementation of a so-called ‘effects test’. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has hailed the decision as “a vital economic reform.” “This is yet again a case of my government taking long overdue reforms out of the too-hard basket and getting on with the job,” he said on Wednesday. An “effects test” will prohibit big businesses with substantial market power from behaving in such a way that has the “purpose, effect or likely effect” of substantially reducing competition without any economic justification. The decision will alter competition law in Australia. Small business has been calling for the Coalition to adopt the recommendation ever since the final Harper review was handed to the Abbott government in March 2015 but the decision caught them by surprise.…

March 15, 2016 CSNews ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Another major retailer is exiting the tobacco business. However, unlike CVS Health Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp. has been quietly removing the products from its shelves. The clear indication of Costco’s move came during its recent second-quarter earnings call. During the call, the Issaquah-based company said sales of tobacco products fell by a “low double-digit” percentage as Costco “continues to eliminate tobacco SKUs from various locations,” according to TheStreet.com. A Costco spokesman told the news outlet the company began reducing cigarette stocks in some of its U.S. locations about three or four years ago, but did not widely publicize its plans. The decision was mostly business-related. The retailer made it a special focus to pull tobacco products from Costco’s business center warehouses, reducing the potential of large customers such as local convenience stores to have items delivered, TheStreet.com reported. “Tobacco is a very low…

STEPHEN BARTHOLOMEUSZ 16 MAR, 2016 Spectator So, finally the Turnbull Government has succumbed to the continuing pressure from the small business lobby, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and its Coalition partners and decided to legislate a solution to a problem that has yet to be established. Moreover, as former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Graeme Samuel said last year, the proposed changes to the “misuse of market power” provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act actually have nothing to do with the conduct they are supposedly targeting. Nearly a year after the Harper review of competition policy law produced its final report recommending changes to those provisions in Section 46 of the Act – recommendations that the Abbott Government had effectively binned — the Turnbull Government has decided to implement them. It says the changes will place competition law on the right footing to encourage economic growth and innovation,…