High Court Decision On Mondiale

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.

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