Woolworths New Zealand, Pak’nSave Silverdale, and Pak’nSave Mill Street will face criminal charges filed by the Commerce Commission for alleged inaccurate pricing and misleading specials, breaching the Fair Trading Act.

“The charges we’re filing against major supermarket brands are to remind all supermarket operators that we expect them to fix ongoing pricing accuracy issues and implement better processes to prevent issues like these in the future,” said Anne Callinan, deputy chair at the Commerce Commission.

“The major supermarkets are large, well-resourced businesses that should invest the time and effort to get pricing and promotions right.”

The commission said it has other ongoing investigations on supermarket operators.

It added that it is collaborating with the major supermarkets to come up with a mandatory disclosure standard under the Grocery Industry Competition Act, to simplify identifying trends and issues going forward, so they can be addressed.

“The major supermarkets don’t have consistent processes for recording customer complaints – the lack of clarity and reporting means supermarkets can’t identify potential compliance issues within their businesses,” said Pierre van Heerden, grocery commissioner.

“This impacts consumers as their complaints may not be being dealt with effectively, which we would expect in a competitive market.”