Commerce Commission

What Commerce Commission does

The Commerce Commission (Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is New Zealand's primary statutory competition, consumer, and economic regulatory agency, established under the Commerce Act 1986 and headquartered in Wellington. It enforces the Commerce Act, Fair Trading Act, and Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA), and is the sole economic regulator for nine infrastructure sectors: telecommunications, electricity lines, fibre, fuel, gas pipelines, airports, dairy, water, and retail payments. Its functions include merger clearances and authorisations, market studies, consumer credit investigations, product safety standards, and information disclosure regimes. The Commission has accumulated nearly four decades of enforcement precedent, and its market-study powers were legislatively expanded in October 2018.

The Commission's core 'product' is statutory enforcement and economic regulation, delivered through investigations, determinations, compliance guidance, and public case register disclosures. It does not sell commercial products and has no public API or commercial technology platform; its website (comcom.govt.nz) functions as an information portal rather than a transactional product. The agency's business model is government appropriation combined with industry levies collected from regulated sectors; it does not generate revenue in the conventional sense and reports no disclosed top-line. Approximately 400 staff support the Commission's work across competition, fair trading, consumer credit, and infrastructure regulation branches.

The Commission serves all New Zealand businesses operating in covered sectors and the broader New Zealand public as consumers. It maintains a strategic cross-appointment partnership with Australia's ACCC under the Single Economic Market Outcomes Framework, supporting convergence in competition and consumer law. In 2026 it opened notable investigations against ASB Bank (CCCFA) and Push Gummies (Fair Trading Act), continues active merger scrutiny of grocery and retail transactions, and underwent a Chief Executive transition to Suzanne Stew in May 2026.

Name

Commerce Commission

Legal name

Commerce Commission

Website

https://comcom.govt.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

The Commerce Commission is New Zealand's statutory competition, consumer protection, and economic infrastructure regulator, enforcing the Commerce Act, Fair Trading Act, and CCCFA across nine regulated sectors for the benefit of Kiwi consumers and businesses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Competition and Consumer Protection Regulation

NAICS

Regulation, Licensing, and Inspection of Miscellaneous Commercial Sectors (926150), Regulation and Administration of Communications, Electric, Gas, and Other Utilities (926130)

akta.pro primary industry

Competition/Antitrust & Market Conduct Regulators (BPAIAOAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Consumer Protection & Product Safety Regulators (BPAIAOAE)

Keywords

• Competition regulation
• Consumer protection
• Merger clearance
• Infrastructure regulation
• Market studies

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Commerce Commission enforces competition and fair trading laws, regulates essential infrastructure sectors (telecommunications, electricity, fuel, airports, dairy, water, retail payments), conducts market studies, processes merger clearances and authorisations, and investigates breaches of consumer credit and product safety legislation. It provides guidance documents, case registers, and compliance information to businesses and consumers across New Zealand.

Product overview

The Commerce Commission (Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is New Zealand's primary competition, fair trading, consumer credit, and economic regulatory agency. It is a government Crown entity, not a commercial product company. The Commission's functions include: enforcing competition and fair trading laws; regulating specified markets (telecommunications, electricity lines, fibre, fuel, gas pipelines, airports, dairy, water, retail payments); conducting market studies; administering consumer information and product safety standards; processing merger clearances and authorizations; and investigating businesses and individuals under consumer credit laws. The Commission provides guidance documents, case registers, publications, and enforces laws such as the Commerce Act, Fair Trading Act, and Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA). The www.comcom.govt.nz website serves as the Commission's public-facing information portal, not as a commercial product offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Competition and Fair Trading Enforcement Investigation and enforcement of the Commerce Act 1986 and Fair Trading Act 1986, targeting anti-competitive behaviour, misleading and deceptive conduct, and unfair business practices affecting New Zealand markets and consumers.
• Merger Clearance and Authorisation Statutory review process for businesses seeking clearance or authorisation to merge or acquire other businesses in New Zealand, including recent clearances such as Godfrey Hirst/Bremworth and the JPT/T&G Fresh application.
• Market Studies In-depth examinations of whether competition in specific New Zealand markets is working well for consumers, identifying factors that may be restricting competition. The first State of Competition report was released as part of this function.
• Infrastructure Regulation Economic regulation of specified essential infrastructure sectors including telecommunications, electricity lines, fibre, fuel, gas pipelines, airports, dairy, water, and retail payments through price-quality paths, information disclosure requirements, and input methodologies.
• Consumer Credit Regulation (CCCFA Enforcement) Enforcement of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA), including ongoing legal action against lenders such as ASB Bank for breaches related to overdrafts and debt collection.
• Product Safety and Consumer Information Standards Administration of consumer information and product safety standards, including consumer reports comparing mobile and broadband customer service quality across providers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Secured $90 million back to Kiwi households through 20 years of CCCFA enforcement
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009Cross-appointments under the Single Economic Market Outcomes Framework agreed between New Zealand and Australian Governments in 2009. ACCC Commissioners Anna Brakey and Stephen Ridgeway serve as Associate Commissioners of the Commerce Commission to support convergence in approach to competition and consumer laws. Commission Chair Dr John Small was appointed as Associate Member of ACCC in May 2024.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA): UK's primary competition and consumer enforcement agency with concurrent market-study powers. Direct analogue on the structure of enforcement-plus-market-investigation mandate.
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC): Australia's federal competition and consumer protection regulator. Closest peer to the Commerce Commission under the Single Economic Market Outcomes Framework, with formal cross-appointments and aligned enforcement approach.
• European Commission – DG COMP: EU-level competition enforcement and merger control authority. Comparable on statutory investigative and merger-clearance functions and on conducting sectoral market investigations.
• U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC): U.S. federal competition and consumer protection agency. Closest large-economy peer with both antitrust and consumer-protection mandates and study authority.
• Competition Bureau Canada: Canadian federal competition authority with overlapping merger-review, cartel, and consumer-protection functions and recent expansion of digital-market oversight.
• Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC): Japan's primary competition law enforcer. Comparable on merger clearance, antitrust enforcement, and sectoral economic regulation functions.

Emerging players

• Monetary Authority of Singapore – Competition & Consumer Protection: Through the CCCS, Singapore's competition authority operates with similar enforcement and merger-clearance powers in a smaller jurisdiction, providing a useful benchmark for an Asia-Pacific peer regulator.

Broad incumbents

• UK Ofgem: UK energy regulator. Directly comparable to the Commission's Infrastructure Regulation branch for electricity/gas; Andy Burgess, GM Infrastructure Regulation, joined from Ofgem in 2019.
• UK Ofcom: UK communications regulator — analogue to the Commission's telecommunications and fibre remits under the same statutory information-disclosure and price-quality framework.

Regional players

• Financial Markets Authority (New Zealand): Domestic NZ financial regulator and policy peer. Operates in the same jurisdiction with adjacent enforcement, investigation, and consumer-protection mandates — and is the source of the Commission's Acting General Counsel on secondment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/CommerceCommission
• Facebookfacebook.com/213700025364974
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/582691
• Xx.com/nzcomcom

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Commerce Commission