Furniture manufacturers welcome Commerce Commission decision

Furniture manufacturers welcome the decision by the Commerce Commission to prosecute a New Plymouth furniture company under the Fair Trading Act for falsely declaring furniture of mixed origin and assembled in Zealand as New Zealand-made.

This underlines the importance of maintaining the integrity of the brand and sends a strong signal to producers about the need to ensure that they do not mislead consumers by implying by words or images that their products are made in New Zealand where in fact they are substantially made overseas.

Cases such as this are also important in terms of setting a benchmark relating to origin so that other companies can avoid making similar mistakes.