Cheaper books, longer shopping hours and medicines available at supermarkets could be on the cards as a result of a new report.
The federal government has released a 548-page report by economist Ian Harper and a panel of other experts on Australia's competition rules.
Professor Harper, whose review is the first of its kind in two decades, said if state and federal governments acted on his 56 recommendations it would boost productivity, help balance the budget and bolster the economy and jobs.
Competition Minister Bruce Billson said he was optimistic reform could boost economic growth by at least 2.5 per cent of GDP over a decade.
One of the key recommendations is to immediately remove regulations governing retail trading hours and parallel imports, which shield local businesses from overseas competition.
Prof Harper said they should no longer apply to books and second-hand cars, delivering "net benefits to the community".
The report cited a study showing book prices could fall by about 35 per cent.
Long-standing restrictions on pharmacy location and ownership should be scrapped, opening the sector to more competition under a simpler set of rules guaranteeing access to medicines and quality of advice.
The report also calls for rules governing planning and zoning, taxis and ride-sharing and mandatory product standards to be reviewed as a priority.
Limits to the number of taxi licences in a particular area and rules preventing other services from competing with taxis raised costs for consumers and blocked innovation, the report said.
While the ACT, Northern Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and NSW have almost completely deregulated trading hours, the report said Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland still had significant restrictions.
"Deregulation of retail trading hours is overdue, and ... remaining restrictions should be removed as soon as possible," the report said.
The report said road user charges should be imposed, with the money going towards new roads and maintenance.
Co-operation between the state and federal governments in easing fuel tax and registration fees could ensure there is no overall extra impost on road users.
Road congestion in cities is estimated to cost business almost $6 billion a year and motorists about $3.5 billion.
Mr Billson said he would be consulting over the next eight to 10 weeks before bringing a submission to cabinet.
In the meantime, state governments could unilaterally act on some of the findings.
The review called for new laws to prevent big companies from misusing their market power.
That should address concerns of small independent grocers that Coles' and Woolworths' dominance is seriously affecting their ability to compete.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said he particularly supported the findings on roads, shipping, intellectual property and parallel imports.
A spokesman for federal Transport Minister Warren Truss said there is a "sound economic rationale" for road user charging.
But many complex issues needed to be worked through before it could be rolled out on the scale recommended by the Harper review.
Among the issues were equity, technology and privacy concerns.
The minister's spokesman said a federal government response would be released in the second half of the year and it was hoped an action plan involving the states and territories could be released by the end of the year.
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