ACCC accepts court-enforceable undertakings from 12 woodheater companies over misleading claims

Following a lengthy investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission into concerns raised by the Department of Environment and Heritage about the compliance of woodheaters with the relevant standards, particularly in respect of particle emissions, 12 woodheater companies have provided court-enforceable undertakings to correct the misrepresentations.

The ACCC found that testing revealed that certain representations made by the companies that their products met with the prescribed standard Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 4013 were untrue. 

The standard regulates the maximum particle emission rates in most states and territories within Australia and also stipulates that models tested must comply with design drawings submitted by the manufacturer as well as specified labelling requirements.

In late 2003 the Department published a National Woodheater Audit Program Final Report. 

The report details testing that was undertaken by the Australian Home Heating Association Testing Laboratory of the 12 most popular nationally available woodheater models, which were tested for emissions and design specifications, with a further 35 models tested for design specifications alone.

Results published in the report showed that the extent of non-compliance was significant*.

The ACCC considers that as a result, the woodheater companies were likely to have breached sections 52, 53(a) of the Trade Practices Act 1974 by misrepresenting that woodheaters comply with the standard as labelled, when, in fact, upon testing it has been discovered that they do not.

"This was a significant outcome in terms of ensuring compliance in the woodheater manufacturing industry", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
 
"When the matter was brought to the attention of the 12 woodheater companies, they co-operated fully and agreed to provide the ACCC with court enforceable undertakings".

The companies acknowledged and admitted that their supply of the woodheaters, which had failed testing, contravened sections 52, 53(a) of the Act.

The companies have given court-enforceable undertakings that they:

• will for a period of three years, ensure that all woodheaters supplied by them will comply with the standard; and
• will implement and maintain a trade practices law compliance program.

Notably, these woodheater companies volunteered to participate in the DEH study, and products from other woodheater companies have not been tested.

Copies of each of the Undertakings are available from the ACCC's website, under Public Registers.

Background

*Test results:

• 58 per cent (7 out of 12) of woodheaters failed to meet AS/NZ 4013 particle emission limits. That is, they emitted more than 4g of particles per kg of fuel burnt;
• 55 per cent (26 out of 47) of woodheaters had one or more serious design faults that could affect performance. Those woodheaters that had serious design faults had deviations from the original designs that had been compliant with AS/NZS 4013;
• 72 per cent (34 out of 47) of woodheaters had one or more labelling faults that could affect emissions performance. The incorrect labelling could be categorised as failing to specify the correct fuel type to be burnt, or stating the power output is lower then the true power output for the woodheater. This may causes operators to choose to run the models at a low air flow to lessen heat generation which would consequently create more unburnt fuel and particles. The latter labelling fault was more prevalent.

The test results described in the program demonstrated that the degree of non-compliance, in terms of emissions performance under the standard conditions, engineering design specifications and labelling requirements, is significant and needs to be addressed by the industry.  

The significance of these results has been recognised by the Department, state governments, the AHHA and individual woodheater companies, through the development of an action plan**, which endeavours to address the key findings through more stringent Australian Standard certification procedures – including new anti-tampering provisions, as well as an extensive follow up audit program.