event of an earthquake. Steel & Tube had failed to conduct the necessary testing to ensure compliance with the Australian/New Zealand Standard for reinforcing steel, but had advertised the product as meeting the standard. Judge Cathcart found that there were issues of inadequate supervision of the technical manager, but that “senior management ought to have known of the large scale non-compliance over the four-year charging period,” consequently characterising the culpability of Steel & Tube as “grossly negligent.” A starting penalty of $2.9 million was adopted, and discounted to reflect Steel & Tube’s guilty pleas, cooperation with the Commission, and remedial measures, resulting in an end penalty of $1.88 million. This decision recognises that such high-risk conduct undermines public confidence in construction products, and indicates that it will not be tolerated. Despite this being the largest fine issued under the Fair Trading Act for a single company, the
commerce commission has filed an appeal against the sentence on the bases that the judge erred firstly by failing to properly attribute the knowledge of a Steel & Tube manager to the company, and secondly by not adequately taking into account the size of Steel & Tube and the potential for it to gain from the conduct.
Third Defendant fined for misrepresentations in concrete panel case Dunedin businessman Cavan Forde has been fined $85,000 in the Dunedin District Court for misrepresentations giving the impression that concrete panels supplied were imported from Australia, when in fact were sourced from China, and had been endorsed by engineering firm Opis, when in fact they had not. In November 2018 Mr Forde pleaded guilty to three representative charges under the Fair Trading Act relating to importation and supply of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) by the Cavan Forde Group of companies (CFG), of which Mr Forde was the founder. CFG did have an agreement to supply Australian Hebel brand AAC products, but began to import Chinese-made ACC products when this agreement ended. Commissioner Anna Rawlings stated that Mr Forde was responsible for representations giving the impression that CFG continued to supply Hebel brand product, which she says was “particularly concerning given some consumers preferred to use the Hebel brand rather than Chinese manufactured materials,” thereby giving CFG an undue advantage over competitors also selling Chinese product. Furthermore, design guides published by Forde gave the false impression that they had been endorsed by engineering firm Opis, which they had not. Darryl Campbell and Christopher Middleditch have already been fined for their role in the conduct.