The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken legal action against carbon trader Prime Carbon in the Federal Court for making misleading representations about the National Environment Registry and the National Stock Exchange of Australia.
The competition watchdog alleges that Prime Carbon's sole director, Ken Bellamy, was knowingly part of the misleading conduct.
The Australian Financial Review reports that Prime Carbon sells a "soil enhancement and carbon sequestration program" to farmers, which aims to take carbon from the atmosphere and store it in agricultural land, and is designed to abate and offset greenhouse gas.
The ACCC says Prime Carbon falsely represented the NER as the only registry that meets Australian government standards, and that it was regulated by the government.
The company is also alleged to have represented that the NER was where domestic and international buyers go to source carbon credits, when this was not the case.
The ACCC says Prime Carbon suggested the NER had a relationship with the Chicago Environment Registry, which would assist NER-listed Australian carbon credits being traded on the international market.
Further, the regulator alleges that Prime Carbon falsely represented that it was a broker with the NSX and that carbon credits purchased through Prime Carbon have been generated through the NSX.
There will be a directions hearing in the matter on February 23.
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