New Zealand Stock and Station Agents Association

We have warned the New Zealand Stock and Station Agents Association that they likely breached section 27 via 30 of the Commerce Act 1986 by directly or indirectly being knowingly concerned in three anti-competitive agreements to set fees at livestock saleyards by livestock companies. The fees arose in connection with the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act 2012. The agreements were: saleyards would charge a minimum fee of $25 for the tagging of any untagged cattle ($10 for any calves); agents would charge farmers an RFID administration fee of $1.50 per head of cattle to register saleyard based cattle movements; and saleyards would increase existing yard fees by $1.50 per head of cattle.