Careline Australia Pty Ltd - s.87B undertaking

Between January 2003 and August 2006 Careline Australia Pty Ltd (Careline), a supplier of complementary medicine products, represented that the following products which it supplied in Australia and overseas were 'made in Australia' - Squalene, Propolis, Omega 3 and Royal Jelly.

ACCC investigation of the 'made in Australia' claims revealed that some batches of these products were imported from New Zealand in tablet or capsule form and only packaging of the products was undertaken in Australia.  In these circumstances the ACCC was concerned that the representations that the products were made in Australia were misleading and deceptive and likely to contravene sections 52, 53(a), 53(b) and 55 of the TPA.

In response to the ACCC's concerns, Careline has provided the ACCC with a court enforceable undertaking to:

• not represent that goods it supplies have been made in Australia unless those goods satisfy the test under section 65AB of the Act for country of origin claims. Namely, that those goods have been substantially transformed in Australia or more than 50% of the manufacturing costs are attributable to manufacturing processes that have occurred in Australia;
• remove any representations from current stock that goods were made in Australia unless those goods satisfy the test under the Act for country of origin claims;
• advise resellers and purchasers of any incorrectly labelled products;
• review its advertising and promotional material to ensure that any representations comply with the TPA;
• publish a corrective newspaper article in an appropriate Chinese language publication; and
• undertake a trade practices compliance program.