Irish Food Industry Welcomes Call for Statutory Grocery Code

24 Oct 2013 --- Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) today welcomed the recommendations of a new report from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine which calls for a statutory code of conduct in the grocery goods sector, supported by an independent supermarket Ombudsman.

The group called for the urgent introduction of legislation to give effect to the recommendations. FDII also welcomed the recommendation to prohibit below cost selling of staples, such as milk.

FDII Director Paul Kelly said: "A statutory code is critical if the food industry is to continue to provide high-quality Irish products, choice and convenience to Irish consumers at a fair price. The code must be properly enforced by an objective adjudicator with powers of investigation.

"Across Europe, authorities are taking steps to better regulate trading relationships to stop large retailers making unfair demands of suppliers. The UK has recently appointed a Groceries Code Adjudicator to enforce their code. The government said legislation to introduce an Irish code would be published in the final quarter of 2012, but one year on we are still waiting.

"Unfair practices faced by food companies include a failure to respect contractual terms, de-listing threats and unilateral deductions off-invoice without sound business reasons. In the short-term these demands impact on individual suppliers, but ultimately they are also bad for consumers. Consumers are best served by a grocery market that is both fair and competitive, one that offers choice and convenience, and provides an outlet for new products and suppliers."