OIA #NN.NNN Response Letter
15 February 2022
Mike Hunua
By email only:
[FYI request #18261 email]
Dear Mike
Official Information Act #21.117
1.
We refer to your Official Information Act 1982 (
OIA) request received 20 January
2022 for information about whether the Commerce Commission (
Commission) has
looked (or is presently looking) into claims made by fuel companies who sell petrol
and diesel with cleaning additives that improve fuel economy, to prove or disprove
the following:
1.1
that the additives are being added to fuels at all; and/or
1.2
whether the claims by some fuel companies around cleaning engines, fuel
injectors and driving cars further with better mileage have any truth to them
or are misleading.
2.
If so, you would like a copy of any findings of investigations, even if the fuel company
names need to be redacted due to commercial sensitivities.
Our response
3.
We have decided to grant your request.
4.
The Commission’s role in regulating the fuel industry, under the Fuel Industry Act
2020, does not include issues of the type you have described at paragraph [1] above.
Released Under Official Information Act 1982
You can find further information about the Commission’s regulatory role in the fuel
industry on our website.1
5.
The Commission can investigate conduct under the Fair Trading Act 1986 (FTA),
however it is not currently investigating conduct under the FTA.
1
https://comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/fuel
4284118-1
2
6.
We note that in 2010 the Commission filed proceedings against Shell New Zealand
Limited under the FTA in relation to claims that its fuel economy formula would
enable motorists to travel further. The proceedings were not upheld in the District
Court. You can find further information about the matter including the Court
judgment in the Case Register on our website.2
7.
The Commission receives complaints from consumers around New Zealand about
issues of concern, including complaints about claims made by fuel companies. If you
have a concern about the conduct of a business or individual, you can make a
complaint to us using the webform on our
website, by email at
[email address] or by phone on 0800 943 600.
8.
We receive thousands of complaints every year, and investigate some complaints but
not others. Our focus is to make sure New Zealand markets work well and consumers
and businesses are confident when buying or selling goods and services. This means
we tend to be most interested in the issues that could cause widespread harm to
New Zealanders.
9.
We value all complaint information and keep this information in our complaints
database. We use this database to identify business practices of possible concern
and may refer to this to help decide whether to investigate similar behaviour in the
future. This database also helps us to decide how we can best assist businesses to
understand and comply with the law.
10.
Please note the Commission will be publishing this response to your request in the
OIA register on our website.3 Your personal details will be redacted from the
published response.
11.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at
[Commerce Commission request email] if you have any
questions about this request.
Yours sincerely
Alexandra Murray
OIA and Information Coordinator
Released Under Official Information Act 1982
2
https://comcom.govt.nz/case-register/case-register-entries/shell-new-zealand-limited
3
https://comcom.govt.nz/about-us/requesting-official-information/oia-register
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