The Commerce Commission (NZCC) has had another busy year, particularly in the areas of consumer protection (including advocacy), cartels and regulated industries. NZCC Chair, Dr Mark Berry, recently spoke at stakeholder briefings in Auckland and Wellington about the NZCC’s activities and achievements during the last financial year, and the NZCC’s plans for the future.
The table below provides a snapshot of those activities, as highlighted in the NZCC’s 2015 Annual Report and other “accountability” documents.
Area
|
Facts & Figures
|
| NZCC priorities include |
- The construction sector and the Christchurch rebuild
- Online sales and other online activity
- Using the range of enforcement tools available under the Fair Trading Act (FTA) & Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA)
- Product safety
- Ensuring the most harmful behaviours are deterred and punished
|
| Enquiries made to contact centre |
|
| Number of investigations completed in non-regulated markets |
|
| Number of Fair Trading Act cases |
- 281
- $28.4 million of refunds or compensation
- Cases include:
– Wild Nature NZ Limited and an individual convicted and fined $268,444 for false claims in relation to imported alpaca rugs being made in NZ
– A settlement with ANZ, ASB and Westpac in relation to the marketing, promotion and sale of interest rate swaps to farmers
– A warning to Air New Zealand that it is likely to have breached the FTA by selling travel insurance on an “opt out” basis
|
| Number of market structure cases (ie mergers) |
- 2
- Including an investigation into Wilson Parking’s acquisition of parking leases and management agreements from Tournament Parking
|
| Number of coordinated behaviour cases (ie price fixing) |
- 8
- Including investigations into whether there was anti-competitive conduct:
– in the collection of waste oil in the upper South Island (proceedings issued)
– in the setting of foreign exchange rates
– in setting prices in connection with the introduction of the National Animal Identification Tracing Act 2012 (proceedings issued)
– in realty services (including whether there was a boycott of Trade Me Property and whether certain real estate agencies agreed to “pass on” increased Trade Me listing fees to vendors)
|
| Number of unilateral conduct cases (ie misuse of market power) |
- 3
- Including investigations into whether:
– Winstone Wallboards (part of the Fletcher Building) acted anti-competitively in the supply of its plasterboard
– Progressive Enterprises Limited (Countdown) may have breached the FTA or Commerce Act through some of its business practices when dealing with suppliers
|
| Number of product safety and information standards cases |
|
| Number of CCCFA cases |
- 40
- Including the NZCC’s success in the Court of Appeal challenging the reasonableness of Motor Trade Finance Limited and Sportzone Motorcycles Limited’s credit fees
|
| Crimes Act |
- 2 successful prosecutions
- The NZCC has acknowledged it is increasingly using the Crimes Act when prosecuting individuals responsible for misleading or defrauding consumers
|
| Percentage of investigations decided within 12 months of the investigation being opened |
|
| New powers used |
- Court-enforceable undertakings used in the Broadlands Finance settlement
|
| New premises |
- New, larger Auckland office to be located on Shortland Street
|
| Product safety inspection visits |
|
| Number of merger clearance applications |
- 14
- An average of 64 working days to reach a decision
|
| Major regulatory work |
- Telecommunications: Setting the wholesale price Chorus can charge for use of its unbundled copper local loop (UCLL) and unbundled bitstream access (UBA) services
- Electricity: Setting of the default price-quality paths for electricity businesses
- Airports: Final reports into the pricing disclosures of Christchurch and Wellington International Airports (according to the NZCC, consumers will be $33 million better off over 3 years following the review of Wellington Airport’s pricing)
- Dairy: Statutory review of Fonterra’s 2013/14 base milk price calculation and review of Fonterra’s 2014/15 milk price manual
|
| 2015/16 budget |
- $43.742 million (an increase of $2.32 million on the 2014/15 budget)
|
| Number of employees (FTE) |
|
| Official Information Act requests (responded to) |
|
| Media |
- 370 media enquiries
- 107 media releases
|
