We highlighted back in August that a tough trading environment was no excuse to relax consumer law compliance. Last Thursday, the Commerce Commission released its 2024-2025 priorities which very much put the emphasis on the risks of non-compliance.
Not only did the Commission confirm its focus on illegal on-line sales practices, such as fake reviews, misleading scarcity claims, misleading social proof sales tactics, drip pricing and subscription traps, but it led with the message that the Commission Board had decided to ‘overcommit’ its litigation fund. Specifically, the Commission said:
“Overcommitting the fund means we can take more action and importantly, take on significant cases where case law isn’t as clear cut, and the odds of a successful outcome may be lower. So, we will be a more active enforcer".
Clarification of the law in areas of uncertainty is useful, but no business wants to be the test case. Commerce Commission investigations are time-consuming and expensive for businesses, both in dollar terms and in the amount of management resource required to co-operate with the Commission. The success of the "overcommitting" strategy to achieve enduring and robust clarification also depends on matters proceeding to contested hearing, rather than a business opting to settle with the Commission.
In either case, a new year's resolution that should be kept for all businesses is to make sure that their consumer law compliance program is refreshed and up-to-date.
