'Anna Fiori' and 'Franco Burrone' made in Italy or Australia? $3,000 fines for country of origin breach
Published22 Jul 1996
After a Commerce Commission warning, three Wellington shoe shops have been fined $1,000 each in the Lower Hutt District Court today for breaching the country of origin labelling standard made mandatory by the Fair Trading Act.
Shoe Connection Ltd, Plimmer Shoe Fashions Ltd and Bank's Shoe Company Ltd were prosecuted by the Commission for displaying for sale shoes with no country of origin labels.
Commission Chairman Dr Alan Bollard said that the standard requires all clothing and footwear to have correct country of origin labels.
The parent company of the three stores was warned in January last year that Plimmer Shoe Fashions was selling Franco Burrone shoes with no country of origin labels.
In March that year, Commission staff bought a pair of Anna Fiori shoes from the same shop. They too had no country of origin labels.
Despite their Italian sounding names, both Franco Burrone and Anna Fiori are Australian-made shoes.
In April last year a pair of Molly N shoes was also bought from Shoe Connection, and in May a pair of Franco Burrone shoes was bought from Banks Shoes. Neither pair had country of origin labels.
Dr Bollard said the companies had been at the very least careless in continuing to sell shoes without country of origin labelling despite receiving a warning.
Judge P.J.Keane said that in the cases of the Franco Burrone and Anna Fiori shoes, consumers could have concluded that they were purchasing Italian shoes, when they were Australian-made.
Judge Keane also noted that the stores appeared to have been unaware of the significance of the standard before the Commission contacted them. Furthermore, while they changed their procedures after the Commission contacted them, they had made no attempt to ascertain what the standard required.
He said the Commission had acted fairly by putting the stores on notice and giving them a reasonable time to comply.
"Despite this, they did not comply," Dr Bollard said, "and the Commission decided to prosecute."
Media contact: Legal Services Manager Mike Chapman
