'Mature regulator': fair trading prosecutions decline

Adam Ross reckons covid-19 has changed the level of Fair Trading Act investigations.

Mon, 21 Feb 2022

The number of Commerce Commission prosecutions for Fair Trading Act claims has declined in the past five years, although experts are mixed as to why.Data released under the Official Information Act said prosecutions by the fair trading regulator had fallen from 39 in calendar year 2017 to just four in 2020. To Oct 11, 2021, when the data was compiled, there was just one prosecution.In contrast, the number of investigations it has undertaken were more variable, with 407 investigations increasing to 550 in 2020, and 158 probes in the first 11 mon...

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