Undertaking date

Undertaking type

s.87B undertaking

Section

18 and 29(1)(a) of the ACL

Industry

Water Treatment Equpment

Company or individual details

  • Name

    Saipol Technologies Pty Ltd

    ACN

    159 655 651

Undertaking

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Saipol Technologies Pty Ltd (ACN 159 655 651) (Saipol) in relation to claims it has made about its ‘C grade’ replacement water filter cartridges. The ACCC considers that the claims were likely to be false, misleading or deceptive in contravention of sections 18 and 29(1)(a) of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

Saipol carries on a business in Australia as an importer, seller and specialist manufacturer of replacement water filtration products, including water filter cartridges. It mainly markets to other businesses including hospitals and universities.

Relevant conduct

  1. Saipol has acknowledged that from at least 1 January 2017 to 3 July 2018 it stated in its advertising brochure/flyer that its ‘C grade’ water filter cartridges were ‘fully compliant with Queensland Health Directive 1/2016’ when the ‘C grade’ water filter cartridges did not meet the necessary filtration requirements.

The ‘Queensland Health Directive’, which was issued as the ‘Patient Safety Alert 1/2016’ (dated 3 February 2016) to all relevant water filter cartridge providers including Saipol, required a filtration of ‘0.2 micron pore size’.

Saipol’s ‘C grade’ filter continued to be promoted during the said period as being compliant, though it had a non-compliant 1.0 (µm) micron rating or pore size. Pore size relates to the filter’s ability to filter out particles of a certain size from the water supply.

Relevant undertaking

To address the ACCC’s concerns, Saipol provided the ACCC with a section 87B undertaking (Undertaking), including that it will:

  1. review the representations in all its promotional correspondence and advertising material, including on its website and product packaging, to ensure that they do not contravene the ACL;
  2. establish and implement a Competition and Consumer Compliance Program (Compliance Program) in accordance with the requirements set out in Annexure A of the Undertaking, being a program designed to minimise Saipol’s risk of future breaches of the provisions set out in Chapters 2 and 3 of the ACL and to ensure its awareness of the responsibilities and obligations in relation to the requirements of Chapters 2 and 3 of the ACL within 6 months of the date of this Undertaking coming into effect;
  3. maintain and continue to implement the Compliance Program for the Term of 3 years; and,
  4. provide, at its own expense, a copy of any documents requested by the ACCC in accordance with Annexure A of the Undertaking.