'Green' Claims Must Not Be Misleading.Article by Mr John Taberner and Ms Emily Sunman The Federal Court held in November 2003 that an air-conditioning supplier engaged in false, misleading and deceptive conduct through representations about the environmental benefits of its products. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission For the other Australian organisation with the same acronym, see . The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent authority of the government of Australia. (ACCC ACCC Association of Canadian Community Colleges ACCC Australian Competition & Consumer Commission ACCC Association of Community Cancer Centers ACCC Academic Computing and Communications Center ACCC American College of Chiropractic Consultants ) instituted proceedings in the Federal Court alleging contraventions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). The Court declared that the company breached section 52 of the Act by representing that its air-conditioning units had environmental benefits when in fact one gas contained in the units was a powerful greenhouse gas greenhouse gas n. Any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. greenhouse gas , and another was an ozone depleting substance. The Court made the following orders with the consent of the parties, that the company: be restrained from engaging in similar misleading conduct in future promotional activities write to businesses and consumers who were supplied the brochure enclosing the Federal Court's orders and the agreed statement agreed statement n. occasionally the two parties on opposite sides of a lawsuit or on an appeal from a trial judgment will agree upon certain facts and sign a statement to be used in court for that purpose. of facts implement a trade practices compliance program, and pay the ACCC's costs. ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel stated in a press release that, '[e]nvironmental claims, including those in the form of statements, logos and images, must be accurate, clearly identify the environmental benefit to which the claim refers, and must be verifiable'. This article provides a summary only of the subject matter covered, without the assumption of a duty of care by Freehills. The summary is not intended to be nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other professional advice. Freehills MLC Centre 19-29 Martin Place Sydney New South Wales New South Wales, state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. NSW NSW New South Wales Noun 1. NSW - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfare Naval Special Warfare 2000 AUSTRALIA Tel: + 61 29225 5000 Fax: + 61 29322 4000 E-mail: info@freehills.com URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : www.freehills.com.au (c) Mondaq Ltd, 2003 - Tel. +44 (0)20 7820 7733 - http://www.mondaq.com |
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