While this is a welcome step, Traidcraft is concerned about the effectiveness of the Grocery Code Adjudicator (GCA) as outlined in the bill. The GCA must have the ability to impose financial penalties on supermarkets that breach the Groceries Code.
There is also unease that, as yet another round of consultation on the bill opens up, there is potential for further delays in setting the body up.
After years of enquiries, Competition Commission reports and promises from all three main parties that they are committed to regulating supermarkets, farmers and producers in developing countries should wait no longer for a much needed Adjudicator.
Fiona Gooch, Traidcraft’s senior policy adviser, said: “Without the power to penalise supermarkets, which have breached the Groceries Code, the Adjudicator will be impotent.
“More than three years ago everyone in the grocery sector accepted the Competition Commission’s assessment that excessive risks and unexpected costs are transferred by retailers to suppliers and so it is time to draw a line under these endless consultations and move to implementation of the desperately needed Adjudicator.
“Traidcraft urges the government to find an opening in the parliamentary calendar to adopt this legislation in the first parliamentary session.”
