Fed: Franklins won t be fined for GST over charging

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2000
Fed: Franklins won t be fined for GST over charging

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says supermarket chain Franklins
won't be fined for over-charging on GST-free goods.

ACCC Chairman ALLAN FELS says the commission has finalised its investigations into
the chain, with Franklins agreeing to a number of remedies.

Franklins was facing fines of up to $10 million for overcharging in relation to the
GST, after the ACCC received more than 100 complaints from consumers.

Instead, the supermarket chain has agreed to give an 11 per cent discount off normal
retail prices on all the relevant products for three weeks from last Wednesday.

Prof FELS says its also agreed to give full refunds to consumers who were overcharged,
and apologise for the incident with full-page newspaper advertisements in New South Wales,
Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.

He says the chain has also set up a program to ensure the problem doesn't happen again
and to handle future GST-related problems.

Prof FELS says the ACCC is continuing to examine other complaints against grocery stores
and will deal with them on a case-by-case basis.

AAP RTV km/ah/smf/jn

KEYWORD: TAX FRANKLINS (SYDNEY)

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