Target Australia Pty Ltd - s.87B undertaking

Target Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Target, has provided a court enforceable undertaking to the ACCC in respect to representations concerning its own-brand ‘Target Four Seasons’ goose down quilts.

Target has represented to consumers that its down sleeping bags contain 100% goose down or 100% duck down or 100% pure down.  It is widely acknowledged in the down products industry that it is highly unlikely that 100% down content could be achieved under normal commercial manufacturing processes.

ACCC testing of a ‘Target Four Seasons’ double quilt represented as containing 100% goose down showed that the Target quilt contained significantly less goose down than the represented 100%.  The Target double quilt was calculated to contain respectively 68.9% goose down (with no additional duck down) and 69.5% goose down (with no additional duck down).

Target advised the ACCC that its 100% down content claims were made in reliance on its supplier’s test reports and on labelling percentage ‘tolerances’ allowed under the Australian Standard 2479-1987 (Down and/or feather filling materials and filled products), and that it had not intended to mislead or deceive consumers.

Target has undertaken to:

• not promote that any of its own-brand products contain 100% down, unless it can be verified that this percentage of down content has been achieved;
• not make any other down content percentage representations which include any percentage tolerance or allowance;
• not make any down content percentage representations that it cannot substantiate by way of testing of its finished down products by International Down & Feather Bureau (IDFB) approved testing methods;
• place a corrective notice on its web-site for 3 months;
• place corrective newspaper advertisements in each State and Territory in which ‘Target Four Seasons’ quilts have been sold, offering refunds to consumers who purchased the quilts; and
• revise its existing trade practices compliance program to include annual independent audits.