The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted court enforceable undertakings from Noonkanbah Enterprise Management Company Pty Ltd which operates the Yungngora Aboriginal Community Store (the Noonkanbah Store).
The undertakings relate to concerns the Noonkanbah Store misled customers in the community by:
- selling some food items well beyond “best before” dates; and
- displaying some shelf prices that were lower than the actual purchase prices.
“People living in the Yungngora community have no practical opportunity to buy food anywhere other than the community store. It is not acceptable for the store to sell food so far past the “best-before” dates that it may be stale, inedible or unsafe,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
The Yungngora Aboriginal Community is a remote Kimberley community about 165 km from the Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia. The community has only one store.
“The ACCC is committed to ensuring all Australians, including those people living in remote communities, have the benefits and protections of the Australian Consumer Law,”
“This matter should serve as a warning to all operators of stores in remote regions that the ACCC will not hesitate to take action where they are found to have broken the law in dealing with customers,” Mr Sims said.
The ACCC would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Department of Indigenous Affairs, the Department of Commerce and the Shire of Derby/West Kimberley in the resolution of this matter.
To address the ACCC’s concerns, the Noonkanbah Store cooperated and provided court enforceable undertakings that it will:
- refrain from engaging in similar conduct in the future
- conduct periodic audits of the store to ensure food past “best-before” date is removed from sale
- ensure the store managers attend a relevant ACL seminar
- display an in-store corrective notice; and
- make the ACCC Fairstore publication available to customers.