Commerce Act 1986

Restrictive trade practices - Resale price maintenance

37: Resale price maintenance by suppliers prohibited

You could also call this:

"You can't force someone to sell things at a certain price."

You cannot make someone sell goods at a certain price. This is called resale price maintenance and it is not allowed. When you sell goods to someone, they should be able to choose the price they sell them for.

If you tell someone you will not sell them goods unless they agree to sell them at a certain price, this is not allowed. You also cannot try to persuade someone not to sell goods at a lower price than you want. Entering into an agreement that says someone must sell goods at a certain price is also not allowed.

Withholding goods from someone because they will not agree to sell them at a certain price is not allowed either. You cannot stop selling goods to someone just because they sold goods at a lower price than you wanted. If someone else gets goods from the person you are selling to, you cannot stop selling goods to them either.

The law says that selling goods includes advertising them for sale, displaying them for sale, and offering them for sale. If someone does something on your behalf, it is considered as if you did it yourself, and you can be held responsible for their actions, such as trying to make someone sell goods at a certain price, as seen in the Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2017.

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This page was last updated on 31 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM88290.

Topics:

Business > Fair tradingMoney and consumer rights > Consumer protection

36B: Purposes may be inferred, or

"Figuring out what someone wants to achieve from their actions"

38: Resale price maintenance by others prohibited, or

"You can't control the price others sell things for"

Part 2Restrictive trade practices
Resale price maintenance

37Resale price maintenance by suppliers prohibited

No person shall engage in the practice of resale price maintenance.
For the purposes of this section, a person engages in the practice of resale price maintenance if that person (in this section referred to as the supplier) does any of the acts referred to in subsection (3).
The acts referred to for the purposes of subsection (2) are—
the supplier making it known to another person that the supplier will not supply goods to the other person unless the other person agrees not to sell those goods at a price less than a price specified by the supplier:
the supplier inducing, or attempting to induce, another person not to sell, at a price less than a price specified by the supplier, goods supplied to the other person by the supplier or by a third person who, directly or indirectly, has obtained the goods from the supplier:
the supplier entering or offering to enter into an agreement, for the supply of goods to another person, where one of the terms is or would be that the other person will not sell the goods at a price less than a price specified, or that would be specified, by the supplier:
the supplier withholding the supply of goods to another person for the reason that the other person—
1. has not agreed to the condition mentioned in paragraph (a); or
2. has sold, or is likely to sell, goods supplied to him by the supplier, or goods supplied to him by a third person who, directly or indirectly, has obtained the goods from the supplier, at a price less than a price specified by the supplier as the price below which the goods are not to be sold:
the supplier withholding the supply of goods to another person for the reason that a third person who, directly or indirectly, has obtained, or wishes to obtain, goods from the other person—
1. has not agreed not to sell those goods at a price less than a price specified by the supplier; or
2. has sold or is likely to sell goods supplied or to be supplied to that third person, by the other person, at a price less than a price specified by the supplier as the price below which the goods are not to be sold.

For the purposes of subsection (3),—
where the supplier makes it known, in respect of any goods, that the price below which those goods are not to be sold is a price specified by another person in respect of those goods, or in respect of goods of a like description, that price shall be deemed to have been specified, in respect of the first-mentioned goods, by the supplier:
where a set form, method, or formula is specified by or on behalf of the supplier and a price may be ascertained by calculation from, or by reference to, that set form, method, or formula, that price shall be deemed to have been specified by the supplier:
where the supplier makes it known, in respect of any goods, that the price below which those goods are not to be sold is a price ascertained by calculation from or by reference to a set form, method, or formula specified by another person in respect of those goods, or in respect of goods of a like description, that price shall be deemed to have been specified, in respect of the first-mentioned goods, by the supplier:
where the supplier makes a statement to another person of a price that is likely to be understood by that person as the price below which goods are not to be sold, that price shall be deemed to have been specified by the supplier as the price below which the goods are not to be sold:
anything done by a person acting on behalf of, or by arrangement with, the supplier shall be deemed to have been done by the supplier.

For the purposes of this section, sale includes advertise for sale, display for sale, and offer for sale, and sell, selling, and sold have corresponding meanings.

Notes

Section 37(2): amended, on 15 August 2017, by section 32(2)(d) of the Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 40).