GAIA complied fully

GAIA Skin Naturals was fined $37,800 by the ACCC for labelling issues on three of its products (PD 21 Jun) but has issued a statement declaring it believes it is compliant and does not acknowledge any wrongdoing.

The company said that since the issuing of the infringement it has “worked collaboratively with the ACCC to understand their view.

“Whilst we do not believe that we have misled consumers, we have taken on board their feedback and will be making changes to our labelling to address their concerns.

“Our consumers are of paramount importance to us and in order to be even more transparent we will be updating our labelling to further clarify the ingredients in our products.”

The company statement said it believed the issuing of the infringement notices by the ACCC was “ahead of the law”.

“Further, the decision to issue the three infringement notices was a negotiated outcome that was made together with us,” GAIA said.

“Our decision to accept and pay the three infringement notices was done in the interest of resolving the matter in a commercial and collaborative manner.

“Importantly, GAIA’s payment of the infringement notices is not an acknowledgment by us of any wrongdoing.

“We firmly believe that we have complied with the current Australian Consumer Law as well as Australian cosmetic standards and guidelines.”

Confusion for different industries exists in that “organic products in the market may contain synthetic chemicals and there is not currently a standard for the inclusion of organic ingredients in Australia”.