Galdan Investments Pty Ltd trading as Tropic Banana Company - s.87B undertaking

Galdan Investments Pty Ltd trading as Tropic Banana Company has provided a court enforceable undertaking to the ACCC in response to concerns over its conduct regarding trade in horticulture produce.

The undertaking acknowledges that from 14 May 2007, Galdan conducted trade in horticulture produce without:

• having horticulture produce agreements in place when they traded with growers of horticulture produce;
• preparing, publishing and making publicly available a document setting out the terms and conditions on which they would trade in horticulture produce with growers; and
• giving growers the required statements for the reporting periods.

Galdan acknowledges that its conduct is likely to have been in breach of the Horticulture Code of Conduct (the Code), a mandatory industry code under, at the time, the Trade Practices Act 1974 and as of 1 January 2011, the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

As part of the undertaking accepted by the ACCC, Galdan will:

• only trade in horticulture produce with growers where a horticulture produce agreement is in place;
• prepare, publish and make publicly available the terms and conditions under which it will trade with growers of horticulture produce;
• provide statements to each of its growers for the reporting periods;
• arrange trade practices compliance training for its relevant staff;
• arrange for the production of a DVD containing a presentation outlining the effect and operation of the Code and to provide a copy of that DVD to all growers with whom it has traded since 14 May 2007, without charge; and
• publish an information notice in the Queensland Country Life newspaper.