Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Global Green Plan Ltd

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

Federal Court of Australia

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

02/06/2010

LITIGATION TYPE

Corporate Accountability

SUBJECT MATTER

Renewable energy

REVIEW TYPE

Judicial review

SUMMARY

Between 2006 and 2008, Global Green Plan (GGP) operated a retail business known as GreenSwitch. In this period, GGP entered into agreements with customers to purchase and surrender 11,300 Renewable Energy Certificates (RECS). However, GGP only purchased 7163 RECS, leaving 4,137 unpurchased certificates. GGP admitted that it had not used the money provided to purchase RECS and made an undertaking to the ACCC under s 87B of the Trade Practices Act 1974 to purchase the remaining 4,137 RECS by March 2010. When GGP failed to do so, the ACCC instituted proceedings in the Federal Court seeking a declaration of contravention and other orders. Orders were made by consent of the parties on 24 August 2010. These required GGP to purchase the remaining RECS by 30 November 2010. On the question of whether a declaration should be made, Bennett J accepted the ACCC’s submission that the public interest was served by making a declaration, as this underscored the enforceable nature of undertakings under s 87B. Further, Bennett J considered that the factors set-out by Gilmour J in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Alvaton Holdings Pty Ltd [2010] FCA 760 were satisfied.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Global Green Plan Ltd [2010] FCA 1057