A four-day initial hearing of Turners & Growers’ case against Zespri will begin in the New Zealand High Court on Tuesday next week.
The hearing is set to address whether the country’s current kiwifruit export regulations are unlawful, and whether the High Court actually has the jurisdiction to determine whether Zespri has been acting in a breach of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999.
Turners & Growers has claimed that:
– Regulations 3 and 4 of The Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999 – giving Zespri a monopoly over exports of kiwifruit with the exception of Australia – are unlawful, because they are inconsistent with the Commerce Act 1986 and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
– Zespri has abused its dominant position for the purpose of protecting its monopoly after the deregulation of the kiwifruit industry by seeking to tie growers, suppliers and post-harvest operators into exclusivity contracts, by attempting to take control of the supply of kiwifruit for export to Australia, and by attempting to take control of new kiwifruit cultivars.
– Zespri has unlawfully discriminated among suppliers of kiwifruit by paying more for kiwifruit supplied by growers who are prepared to sign exclusivity agreements with Zespri, in an improper attempt to preserve Zespri's monopoly.
– Zespri has unlawfully carried on businesses and activities prohibited by the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999, without obtaining the approval of shareholders and suppliers.
Claims not addressed by the Auckland High Court next week will be covered in a six-week hearing scheduled for May 2011.
Turners & Growers has long held the publically-stated aim of deregulating New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry, which will enable the company to export its own proprietary Enza-brand varieties from New Zealand.
Grower-owned Zespri is the world’s largest single kiwifruit marketer, with global sales results that bucked the economic trend in 2009/10 to increase 3 per cent to NZ$1.5bn (US$1.08bn).
