Mondiale accepted the penalties imposed by the
Auckland High Court last Friday on 10 June relating to a
practice it had followed as a wholesaler in relation to its
supply of services to other freight forwarders that ended in
2018, Ray Meade, the company’s Chief Executive Officer,
said today.
“We have cooperated with the Commerce
Commission from the outset. We understand the need to meet
all our obligations under the Commerce Act, and we are sorry
this did not happen in this case.
“Since this matter
was first brought to our attention in 2018 we have moved
quickly to review and strengthen comprehensive compliance
practices across all our operations.”
High Court
Justice Wylie found that Mondiale had not been aware it was
in breach of the Commerce Act at the time of the practice
and the company had held the view it was acting ethically in
order to respect the trust and confidence of its wholesale
freight forwarder customers.
He said Mondiale had seen
the practice as a practical response to the need to provide
wholesale freight forwarding services to other freight
forwarders while also being their competitors.
Justice
Wylie also said Mondiale had settled with the Commission at
the earliest possible opportunity and that the conduct had
stopped immediately in 2018 when Mondiale was informed of
the potential issue.
Mr Meade said the company had
acted quickly in 2018 to make changes as soon as possible to
its practices to reflect best practice and entered into a
settlement as soon as it could to resolve the matter on
terms acceptable to Mondiale and the Commission.
“We
have a focus on compliance and an ongoing extensive
programme of competition law training to ensure we are all
aware of our obligations and fully comply with all
requirements right across our organisation,” he
said.
