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A Christchurch retailer must pay $18,800 in fines and costs in New Zealand's first prosecution for selling imported electrical appliances that don't meet energy efficiency ratings.
Matipo Trading Co Ltd, which runs Cargo Shed on Johns Road on the city's outer perimeter, did not appear in Christchurch District Court today but Judge Stephen Erber found all 10 charges proved.
He said there had been repeated approaches to the company to comply with the regulations and its repeated failure to comply amounted to defiance.
Even with all those penalties piling up, they will not go close to covering the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority's (EECA) costs in bringing the case.
When it could not get the company to comply and get air conditioning units rated itself, it bought six units and had them shipped to New South Wales for testing. Its total costs, including shipping, testing, and legal fees, amounted to $40,000.
Judge Erber said those costs were not recoverable because of a ruling made in the High Court, but he ordered the company to pay $2500 solicitor's fees on top of court costs of $1300 and fines totalling $15,000.
Because the company did not appear and the case was heard through a formal proof procedure, he had no information about the company's means. Care had to be taken in such cases to act "firmly but moderately," said Judge Erber.
The EECA prosecutor Geoff Brodie said the Cargo Shed had sold air conditioning units which were not rated and were "hopelessly inefficient."
"They would only get one star, if anything," Mr Brodie said. Advertising showed they were reduced from $900 to $300.
The Act had been in force for five years but the authority had sought to get compliance by encouragement and education rather than coercion. It had been goaded into this first prosecution.
When the company would not comply, six units were sent to a testing facility in Australia, where the regulations are the same.
One unit did not work at all, one broke down, and the other four failed the tests by margins of 61 to 72 per cent.
He said a company official had now approached the authority about importing a new line of air conditioners that would be tested to comply with the regulations.
The company faced six charges of failing to display energy efficiency labels at the time of sale, and four charges relating to the testing failures. The maximum fine is $10,000 on each charge.
Judge Erber said the company had imported substandard units "for off-loading onto the New Zealand market without attempting to comply with the regulations.
"Consumers are entitled to expect that where there are standards for such products they will be complied with."
- NZPA
