By LIAM DANN
The Commerce Commission has knocked back Act MP Gerry Eckhoff's complaint about Fonterra's new environmental standards for dairy farmers.
Eckhoff lodged the complaint last month after Fonterra indicated it might refuse to buy milk from farmers who did not comply with the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord
it had signed with the Government.
It was not Fonterra's role to bully farmers, Eckhoff said at the time.
Its dominant position in the dairy industry gave it extraordinary powers of coercion, he argued.
The commission disagreed.
"As the conduct you have described is unlikely to breach any provisions of the the DIR [Dairy Industry Restructuring] Act or any restrictive trade provisions of the Commerce Act, the commission will not be taking this matter any further," said market behaviour group manager Jan Compton in a letter to Eckhoff.
The letter, obtained under the Official Information Act, outlines the commission's responsibilities and explains why the complaint does not fit those parameters.
"While Fonterra may have substantial power in terms of the Commerce Act ... there is unlikely to be any anti-competitive effects in the circumstances you describe," Compton said.
Fonterra and the Government signed the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord in May. It sets specific environmental targets, such as the fencing of 90 per cent of waterways in dairying areas by 2012.
