Undertaking date

Undertaking type

s.87B undertaking

Reference number

D00/13370

Section

ss. 52 & 53(eb)

Company or individual details

  • Name

    Galaxy Imports (NSW) Pty Ltd

    ACN

    001 476 437

Undertaking

Galaxy Imports (NSW) Pty Ltd ("Galaxy") a Sydney based food importer, processor, packager and wholesaler imported olives in bulk from Spain and Greece which it processed by marinating in Australian and imported ingredients, packaged in plastic vacuum 500gm packs and marketed under the brand name "Gina Super Olives" ("Gina"). For 4 years Galaxy sold:

  • Gina marinated stuffed olives in packs marked "Product of Greece" when the stuffed olives were imported from Spain, and
  • Gina marinated Black Greek, Kalamata, Green and Mixed (green and black) olives in packs marked "Product of Greece" when these were processed and packaged in Australia, and
  • between February 1999 and November 1999, Gina marinated stuffed olives in packs marked "Product of Australia" when the stuffed olives were imported from Spain.

The Commission considered the conduct breached s52 and s53(eb) of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

Galaxy acknowledged that it may have contravened the Act and undertakes:

  • not to engage in the conduct in the future;
  • to recall the stuffed olives from warehouses and over-label other olive varieties stock on the shelves;
  • to publish a corrective notice in a daily newspaper in each of the 4 states in which it trades and in 4 nominated Greek language newspapers;
  • to send a letter to all its customers advising them of the matter;
  • to offer a refund to customers who say the claims misled them into purchasing Galaxy olives; and
  • to implement a 3 year compliance program including: an audit of country of origin claims of all its 300 products; introduce a checking system for country of origin claims; and annual training sessions.