Rules that restrict taxi licences, shopping hours, the location of pharmacies and the resale of goods legally purchased overseas would be swept away as part of a package of measures proposed by the first comprehensive review of competition policy in 22 years.
Published on Tuesday, the report of the Harper Review says the taxi industry is "virtually unique among customer service industries in having absolute limits on the number of service providers".
It says 15 to 20 per cent of the cost of taxi fares is accounted for by the cost of licences, pushed high by artificial scarcity.
It wants state governments to "reduce or eliminate" restrictions on the supply of taxis.
The report says while it does not condone what may be an illegal activity in some states, ride-sharing services such as Uber have become accepted by the public providing a deregulated alternative.
All remaining restrictions on general shopping hours would be removed if the Harper panel's recommendations are accepted.
But its report says states should still be able to impose specific restrictions on trading times for alcohol and gambling venues if they believe it would be in the public interest.
Supermarkets would be able to operate pharmacies and the rules restricting the ownership and location of pharmacies would be abolished within two years.
Restrictions on the so-called parallel import of goods such as books, instant coffee and software would also vanish, meaning it would become legal to sell in Australia anything legally purchased overseas, even if the manufacturers purported to sell "Australia only" versions.
The review has called for a 12-month Productivity Commission inquiry into Australia's intellectual property rules and a separate independent review of Australia's processes for negotiating trade deals which concern intellectual property. Proposed provisions are at present not subject to an independent analysis.
Professor Ian Harper, who chaired the review, said he wanted his 56 recommendations adopted as quickly as possible. He has prepared draft legislation appended to the report.
Noting a view that there was no "burning platform" requiring further competition reform, Professor Harper said evidence presented to his panel suggested that reform was not only overdue but was critical to sustaining Australia's living standards as the mining boom receded.
The minister for small business Bruce Billson released the report immediately on receiving it. He said the government would issue a full response when it had considered the recommendations.
