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Commerce Act 1986

Enforcement, remedies, and appeals - Restrictive trade practices

82A: Exemplary damages for contravention of Part 2

You could also call this:

"Paying extra for breaking the rules in the Commerce Act"

Illustration for Commerce Act 1986

If you break the rules in Part 2 of the Commerce Act, the court can order you to pay exemplary damages. This can happen even if the court has already told you to pay a penalty for the same thing, as stated in section 80. The court will look at whether you have already been given a penalty for what you did and how much that penalty was when deciding if you should pay exemplary damages.

When the court decides whether to give you exemplary damages, it looks at a few things, including whether you have been given a penalty for what you did and how much that penalty was. The court also considers if you have been given a penalty before when deciding how much exemplary damages you should pay.

You cannot be ordered to pay exemplary damages if you have already been found guilty of a crime for the same thing under section 82B.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM89469.

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Part 6Enforcement, remedies, and appeals
Restrictive trade practices

82AExemplary damages for contravention of Part 2

  1. The court may order a person who has engaged in any conduct referred to in section 82(1) to pay exemplary damages even though the court has made, or may make, an order directing the person to pay a pecuniary penalty under section 80 for the same conduct.

  2. In determining whether to award exemplary damages and, if they are to be awarded, the amount of them, the court must have regard to—

  3. whether a pecuniary penalty has been imposed on the defendant for a contravention involving the conduct concerned in the claim for exemplary damages; and
    1. if so, the amount of the pecuniary penalty.

      1. The court may not order a person to pay exemplary damages in relation to conduct for which the person has been convicted of an offence under section 82B.

      Notes
      • Section 82A: inserted, on , by section 20 of the Commerce Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 32).
      • Section 82A(3): inserted, on , by section 11 of the Commerce (Criminalisation of Cartels) Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 9).