ACCC asked to help keep paper part of everyday

Industry action group, APIA, calls on ACCC to help print cause.

In a letter to Graeme Samuel, chairman of the ACCC, Bernard Cassell, president, outlined the group’s concerns. Cassell wrote that: “We are writing to outline our serious and growing concern at the breadth and depth of false and misleading statements made about the sustainability of paper-based communications.”

The ACCC has been asked by APIA to provide a statement, which will make businesses aware of print’s positive uses, and the effects of opting for online-only communication.

“Our expectation is that this is more likely to be effective in providing the Commission with the basis for making a firm and general statement that recognises our sector’s particular circumstances in the context of the Commission’s 2008 publication, Green Marketing and Trade Practices Act,” Cassell wrote.

Cassell said he believes that “a suitable statement, general correspondence, releases and other actions of that nature”, along with actions from APIA “may remove many of the instances about which we would otherwise be making numerous and extensive individual complaints about requests for action.”

Included in the letter to Samuel were attachments, highlighting incorrect claims about the use of paper, along with information resources and facts that demonstrate the sustainability of paper and print.

The latest move from APIA signifies its push to make its voice heard as loud as possible. Recent support from two of Australia’s largest printers, PMP and IPMG, along with GAMAA, which signed up last month, indicate that the group is set to become a major agent for change in transforming perceptions of the industry.