Timber firms on cartel counts

Four timber companies and seven executives are to defend themselves in the High Court after the Commerce Commission laid civil proceedings alleging cartel behaviour.

The proceedings are for the alleged sharing of prices, price-fixing, collusion and bid-rigging during a four-year period from 1998.

The case will reach across the Tasman with the commission also initiating proceedings in the High Court at Auckland against the related Australian-based companies.

The executives have not been named - pending legal representation - but the four timber-preservative businesses are: Koppers Arch Wood Protection, Osmose, TPL and Nufarm.

The commission allegations relate to the supply of various wood preservatives, chemicals and services including copper chromium arsenic (CCA), widely used by the timber and associated industries.

It filed criminal charges in February in the Manukau District Court against Koppers Arch and its general manager, Roy Parish, over alleged non-compliance in providing the commission with information and documents. The maximum penalty is a $30,000 fine for a company and $10,000 for an individual.

In New Zealand, Koppers is part of a group in Australia, Fiji and Asia related to two big US companies, Koppers and Arch Chemicals.

Koppers said it could not comment on the commission's court action, TPL could not be contacted and Nufarm did not return calls.

Osmose said it had co-operated fully with the investigation and "denies very strongly" allegations it has been involved in an "overarching understanding". The charges would be "vigorously defended".

(At different times, two of the companies were previously known as Fernz Timber Protection: TPL between 1984 and November 1999, and Nufarm between December 1999 and January 2001.)

Last month, Australian officials ruled that treated pine timber would be phased out for use in play equipment, outdoor seating and domestic decking by next year. New Zealand's Timber Industry Federation said the decision of Australian regulators to crack down on arsenic residues in treated timber could cost the forestry sector here $50 million.

Timber treated with (CCA), a chemical that prevents rotting, has been linked to bladder and lung cancer in some overseas research. Britain, Canada and the United States have banned its use in recreational items such as play equipment.

- additional reporting NZPA