ACCC moves to take contempt action in contraceptive case
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has begun proceedings for contempt in the Federal Court, Sydney against Mr David ZeroPopulationGrowth Hughes.
The ACCC has alleged Mr Hughes has supplied contraceptives in breach of orders made by Justice Alsop in March 2002.
In 2002, the ACCC successfully brought an action against Mr Hughes, trading as Crowded Planet, for breaches of the Trade Practices Act 1974 in relation to advertisements published on the Internet relating to the supply of oral contraceptives.
On 18 March 2002 Justice Allsop of the Federal Court made the following orders:
that Mr Hughes be restrained from supplying oral contraceptives in Australia without disclosing in any promotional medium, including any Internet site, that:
it is illegal to supply the specified oral contraceptives to persons in Australia without prescription;
it is illegal for a person to acquire the specified oral contraceptives without prescription;
that there are significant health risks in taking some oral contraceptives without obtaining medical advice about the suitability of those medications for use by the particular individual;
that within Australia free medical assistance, including where appropriate the issuing of a prescription, is available to Australian citizens and permanent residents who are contemplating using oral contraceptives;
that it is significantly less expensive to obtain oral contraceptives upon prescription from a pharmacy in Australia than it is to buy them from Crowded Planet.
that Mr Hughes be restrained from supplying the specified oral contraceptives to persons in the United States of America.
The ACCC has alleged that Mr Hughes has not complied with those orders by supplying contraceptives into the United States of America and contracting to supply in Australia.
A directions hearing has been set down for 16 October 2003 before Justice Conti at 9.30 a.m. in Sydney.
