Undertaking date

Undertaking type

s.87B undertaking

Reference number

D03 47788

Section

ss. 52, 53(g) and 64

Company or individual details

  • Name

    Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Limited

    ABN

    81 000 565 471

Undertaking

Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Limited has admitted that it engaged in conduct that constituted contraventions of sections 52, 53(g) and 64 of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Specifically, it demanded payment for unsolicited mail order products when it did not have reasonable cause to believe that it was entitled to payment and falsely represented that it had a right to payment for those goods.

Reader's Digest has provided court-enforceable undertakings that it will:

  • not demand payment, assert a right to payment or threaten to bring legal proceedings with a view to obtaining payment for any magazine, book, cassette tape, video tape, compact disc or DVD unless it has received a request for the goods;
  • not imply a request for goods from the silence or inaction of the recipient;
  • establish and maintain a Trade Practices Compliance Program;
  • appoint an independent auditor to review the internal operations of its business which lead to the breaches and implement the recommendations of that review;
  • place an advertisement in its monthly magazine and one major newspaper in each capital city and post a notice on its website informing customers of its breaches of the Act;
  • send to all persons on its current mailing list a letter informing them of its breaches of the Act;
  • produce a training video explaining the operation of the relevant provisions of the Act which all staff will be compelled to view and which will be available to members of the public on its website and provide the video to all current members of the Australian Direct Marketing Association; and
  • pay refunds totalling $1,437.83 to two named persons who paid for unsolicited goods in response to demands for payment by Reader's Digest.

Variations

current positiondatetitlevariation status
23 Aug 2005 Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Limited - variation - s.87B undertaking variation of original
19 Dec 2003 Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Limited - s.87B undertaking original