A composting business in Taranaki has been warned not to mislead consumers by saying all of its sites and compost products are certified organic.
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The Commission took the action in response to a complaint.
It offered to assist the Revital Group to meet its obligations under the Fair Trading Act, but chose not to investigate further.
The Revital Group has composting and worm farm operations in New Plymouth, Cambridge and Tauranga, and a similar operation at Uruti in North Taranaki under the Remediation New Zealand banner.
It sells a range of products which are of BioGro-certified.
Up until December, the Uruti site accepted oil and gas waste products alongside other compostibles.
The lobby group Climate Justice Taranaki, which wants the plant closed down, made the 2019 complaint to the Commerce Commission.
Researcher Catherine Chueng said the Revital Group website was giving the impression all its operations are BioGro certified.
"And the decision from the commission was that there was a possibility that the website could mislead people to think that everything is organic and then actually the commission wrote and talked to the company and warned them that they needed to do things better to make sure there's no chance of misleading the public."
The commission's advice to Revital - released to RNZ under the Official Information Act - said it had seen evidence that BioGro did not audit all Revital sites annually as claimed on the company's website.
"We consider the representations made by Revital may mislead consumers to believe all Revital sites and compost products are organic certified by BioGro when they may not be. We consider the information provided in the complaint may, if further substantiated, give rise to possible breaches of sections 13(a) and 13(e) of the Fair Trading Act," it said.
The commission said the purpose of its communication with Revital was to educate the company about its obligations and it went onto recommend it seek legal advice.
Chueng said she was not clear what was actually produced at Uruti.
"From the documents that we've read it's really hard to make sense of what's been received on this site, how they're processed and then their traceability.
"If there are different lines of products and different processing mechanisms, how are the different lines of products traced and how are well are they tested? How are we so sure they are safe for the public?"
Remediation NZ managing director Kerry O'Neil declined an interview.
In an email, O'Neil sought to clarify what the company did at Uruti.
"In regard to BioGro certification, Uruti is a Remediation NZ site not a Revital Fertilisers site and as such the finished compost is not certified and never has been.
"What is certified as an input is paunch grass which we use as worm food for our certified Vermiculture unit at Brixton."
He said the Uruti site had three production pads.
At Uruti we run a three-pad system.
One for organic material which was composted, a second for oil and gas waste which was composted but not for sale, and a third for paunch grass which was fed to worms at its vermiculture unit.
O'Neil took umbrage with any suggestion composted oil and gas waste made its way on to the market.
"In regard to your question re: drilling mud sold in compost blends from the site, I can give a categorical answer that this has never happened."
BioGro New Zealand marketing and communications manager Robyn Vickery said the organisation had a clear set of rules for its certified 'ingredients for organics' and 'certified organic' programmes.
"If we come across, or are made aware of misleading claims made on other marketing platforms in relation to their certification, we will directly contact the licensee to get these changed."
Vickery says not all Remediation NZ products are certified with BioGro and it prevents cross-contamination between the certified and non-certified products.
She said BioGro did not make "ethical" judgements about other parts of a company's business separate from its certification process.
It was up to Remediation NZ and Revital Group to be clear about the nature of its Uruti site, she said.
"We believe all businesses are responsible for the marketing and transparency of the product or services they provide to their customers."
In response to the Commerce Commission advice the Revital Group has amended the wording on its website to read "key sites" are BioGro audited annually rather than "all sites".
Remediation NZ has breached its consents at the Uruti site for discharges to air and water on multiple occasions.
A hearing for its consents renewals is set down for 22 March.
A Taranaki Regional Council report has recommended renewing the consents under a slew of conditions.