The Commerce Commission has announced they will appeal a sentence of $2.009 million issued to reticulation equipment supplier Steel & Tube Holdings Ltd (Steel & Tube).

Last month, Justice Duffy imposed the fine on Steel & Tube in the Auckland High Court in relation to 24 charges under the Fair Trading Act.

The Commission has applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the sentence on the bases that the Judge erred when sentencing the company, by:

• failing to properly attribute the knowledge of a Steel & Tube manager to the company;
• applying an excessive totality discount to the penalty; and
• failing to adequately consider the size of Steel & Tube and the potential for it to gain from the conduct.

In October 2018, Steel & Tube were fined $1.885 million in the District Court for breaching the Fair Trading Act.

Those breaches included making false and misleading representations about its steel mesh products which are used in construction for earthquake strengthening.

On that occasion, the Commission also filed an appeal in November 2018 on the basis that the Judge erred when sentencing the company.