Sherpa Outdoor Equipment Pty Limited - s.87B undertaking

The ACCC has accepted court enforceable undertakings from Sherpa Outdoor Equipment Pty Limited about the labelling of its ‘Sherpa’ brand thermal underwear garments (the 2004 Undertaking).

The undertakings address ACCC concerns that in supplying thermal underwear garments with misleading and false fibre content labelling Sherpa Outdoor Equipment Pty Limited may have breached the Trade Practices Act 1974 (the Act).

In November 1999 Sherpa also formally entered into an Undertaking pursuant to section 87B of the Act with the ACCC (the 1999 Undertaking). The ACCC has informed Sherpa that upon execution of the 2004 Undertaking by the ACCC, the ACCC consents to Sherpa’s withdrawal of the 1999 Undertaking.

In the 2004 Undertaking Sherpa acknowledges that it may have contravened section 52, 53(a) and 53 (c) of the Act and makes the following undertakings:

• refrain from supplying mislabelled thermal underwear garments and from supplying these garments in packaging that contains false representations about their fibre content
• engage an accredited textile testing agency to test each and every batch of thermal underwear garments for fibre content prior to making any representations that relate to the fibre content of the garments
• ensure all suppliers it chooses to source thermal underwear garments from are fully aware of the fibre content labelling requirements of the relevant Australian Standard and the terms of Sherpa’s Undertaking to the ACCC
• by way of a corrective notice in a major daily newspaper in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, notify consumers who have been misled by the fibre content labelling of the thermal underwear garments it has supplied, that it will offer them refunds or replacement goods
• relabel any mislabelled stock and packaging it has in its warehouse and contact those retailers it supplied to assist them to do the same
• implement an upgraded corporate trade practices compliance program with particular emphasis on its labelling practices