Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) has given the ACCC a court-enforceable undertaking after acknowledging that the labelling for Byron Bay Pale Lager (the Lager) may have misled consumers.

The Lager was developed by the Byron Bay Brewing Company (BBBC), who brews it for sale on tap at its site in Byron Bay.  BBBC licensed CUB to manufacture the Lager in accordance with BBBC's recipe, and to market and distribute it using BBBC's trademarks.

The Lager labelling contained the name Byron Bay Pale Lager, a pictorial representation of a lighthouse, a map of the Byron Bay region showing the location of the Byron Bay Brewing Company and the following text:

The Byron Bay Brewing Co is located on Skinner's Shoot Road in Byron Bay. We're housed in a historic location, a birthplace of much of the fame and spirit of Byron Bay which has attracted local and international musicians, artists and alternative thinkers since the '70s. Next time you're in town, drop in and have a beer.

The ACCC was concerned that this labelling may have mislead consumers to understand that the Lager had been brewed by BBBC at its small brewery in Byron Bay, when in fact it was brewed by CUB at one of its breweries some 630 kilometres away from Byron Bay.

CUB acknowledged that the labelling may have misled consumers in that manner and that, by making that representation, it was likely to have contravened sections 18 and 29(1)(k) of the Australian Consumer Law.  These provisions prohibit businesses from:

• engaging in conduct that is misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive (section 18); and
• making a false or misleading representation concerning the place or origins of goods (section 29(1)(k)).

To address this conduct, CUB has undertaken:

• not to make false, misleading or deceptive representations concerning the scale of the brewery in which a product is brewed and the place of origin of its products, for the next 3 years;
• to cease distributing any product with the existing labelling;
• to publish a corrective notice on its website for 90 days;
• to distribute point-of-sale corrective notices to its customers that acquired the Lager;
• to arrange to publish a corrective notice in Drinks Weekly (drinkstrade.com.au) for 7 days and the National Liquor News; and
• to implement and maintain for 3 years a supplementary compliance program in relation to product labelling and advertisement requirements under the Australian Consumer Law for senior managers within CUB's Marketing Department.

CUB has also paid two infringement notices to the value of $20,400.

The ACCC has said that it 'will be writing to other participants putting them on notice of this matter in order to ensure the marketing and labelling in the beer market appropriately reflects where and by whom beer is brewed.'