Carmichael – “Government must act to secure supermarket ombudsman” (Aberdeen South & North Kincardine Liberal Democrats)

Aberdeen South & North Kincardine Liberal Democrats <info@aberdeensouthlibdems.org.uk>

Carmichael – “Government must act to secure supermarket ombudsman”

August 27, 2009 5:05 PM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael has today written to the Business, Innovation and Skills Minister urging him to establish a supermarket Ombudsman to arbitrate on disputes between grocery retailers and suppliers and set up a new Grocery Supply Code of Practice.

The Competition Commission (CC) earlier this month wrote to the Business Minister formally recommending that he should establish an Ombudsman. The formal recommendation follows on from the CC's inquiry into the UK groceries retailing sector which concluded that measures were needed to address concerns about relationships between retailers and their suppliers.

Commenting, Mr Carmichael said;

"This is an issue which has been around for years. It has been passed from government to the OFT to the Competition Commission and now back to government. Nobody seems to want to take on the supermarkets and challenge the crippling power that they can exert over suppliers. It is pretty clear what needs to be done. The government must now get on and do it.

"I have already been in touch with the government regarding this issue and it is clear they were hoping that the UK supermarkets would sign up to a voluntary agreement with the Competition Commission. This approach has now failed and the Minister must now take action to legislate for a supermarket Ombudsman who can best protect consumers interests."

Under the Enterprise Act 2002 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can make a market investigation reference to the CC if it has reasonable grounds for suspecting that competition is not working effectively in that market. The inquiry was referred by the OFT in May 2006. The CC published its final report on 30 April 2008. The CC has been trying to reach a voluntary agreement with the supermarkets since this time.

Notes:

More information can be seen at the Competition Commission website at - http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/press_rel/2009/aug/pdf/36-09.pdf