list of contributors - GALA

although it is not anticipated that the new legislation will come into force
until some time in 2006. Among the changes to the legislation which have
been widely signalled by the Ministry is an amendment to the Patents Act
1953 to specifically exclude from patentability inventions for "diagnostic,
therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans".
5. Title Claims of 100% leave no room for ambiguity
Topic: Misleading and deceptive labelling
Where: New Zealand
When: December 2004 onwards
What Happened: The Commerce Commission has recently reminded all traders that there is no
room for ambiguity when making absolute claims about the composition of
their products. Recent Commission investigations into the juice, leather and
feather and down industries have all raised similar issues under the Fair
Trading Act 1986. The Fair Trading Act prohibits misleading and deceptive
conduct in trade.
The Commission is concerned about misrepresentations made by traders
about the composition of products, and the misuse of absolute claims such as
100%. Under the Fair Trading Act it is imperative that all claims made as to
the nature and content of a product are of the highest levels of accuracy.
In 2003 the Commission investigated 11 fruit juice companies, resulting in
two successful prosecutions and undertakings by five companies to make
changes to their labels or website content. A number of the breaches related
to misleading representations with respect to "100%" juice – when the
products contained concentrate.
More recently, the Commission investigated claims being made in the leather
industry following complaints about retailers that have been selling lookalike
part-leather products as though they were genuine leather. The
Commission considered that representing these look-alike products as "100%
leather", "genuine leather", or as simply "leather" may mislead consumers
about the real nature of the product they are purchasing.
In the feather and down industry the Commission recently completed an
investigation following a complaint alleging significant differences between
the down content labelling and the actual down content of individual duvets.
In one case, a duvet labelled as 100% goose down allegedly contained only
78.5% down, of which 35.9% was duck down.
The Commission commented that "in any industry, where a trader makes a
representation that a product is manufactured to or composed of a particular
percentage then that percentage must be met or exceeded".
Comments: Traders need to ensure that any advertising or product labelling does not
mislead consumers or misrepresent key components of a product. The Fair
Trading Act is consumer legislation designed to protect the consumer and
enable a consumer to make an informed decision based on factual
information. Anything else could amount to a breach of the Fair Trading
Act, which can attract fines of up to $200,000.