Econovite Pty Ltd contravened the consumer protection provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 by making false claims regarding the composition and characteristics of some of the ingredients on the labels of its livestock feed supplement products which it supplied to farmers, the Federal Court has declared.
The court declared that by supplying the livestock feed supplements with incorrect labelling, Econovite made false and misleading representations in relation to the quality, composition, nature and characteristics of products.
Justice French agreed to consent orders that the company breached the Act by supplying the incorrectly labelled products. The orders follow court action by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC instituted proceedings against Econovite alleging that during the period from March 2002 until about March 2003, the company, in manufacturing and distributing the livestock feed supplements including:
- Econovite Mineral Block
- Econovite Dry Feed Block, and
- Econovite Cattle Block
- made false and misleading representations on the package labelling of the products in relation to the composition and characteristics of the products.
The court found that the conduct breached sections 52, 53(a) and 53(c), of the Act which prohibit false and misleading representations.
The company also consented to orders by the court which:
- made injunctions restraining Econovite from engaging in similar conduct in the future
- made orders for the publication of a corrective notice by Econovite informing consumers and retailers of the breaches
- made orders for Econovite to undertake an industry education program
- made orders that Econovite implement a corporate trade practices compliance program, and
- the ACCC's court costs.
"The ACCC took this action to reinforce to the community that suppliers of goods and services to regional and rural consumers must be truthful in the claims they make on their product labelling and that as such, these consumers will be given the same protection under the Act as city consumers", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today. "It also reinforces the stance by the Government that regional and rural markets must be protected from such conduct.
"Companies must be careful when labelling products so that the contents meet the claims on the labels. It must also be remembered that companies are ultimately held responsible for the products that they place in the marketplace. In many cases, making false claims is still a breach of the Act even though the conduct may not have been deliberate or intentional.
"In this case, the supplier cooperated fully when the labelling problems were brought to the company's attention by the ACCC and it took immediate steps to relabel all the products identified by the ACCC. The company also fully cooperated with the ACCC's investigation to ensure a speedy outcome in this matter".