The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has written to the Competition Commission expressing concern about flaws in the proposed code of practice for supermarkets.
The latest draft of the Grocery Suppliers Code of Practice (GSCOP), consulted on last week, does not make it an offence to fail to comply with the code provisions and leaves significant questions about how compliance will be monitored and enforced.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Having found that a code is necessary, the commission is proposing a code without teeth.
"The commission appears wholly reliant on imposing a voluntary or compulsory ombudsman scheme. So far the Commission has made slow and ineffective progress in delivering such a scheme. Given the poor performance, the proposed GSCOP has to be effective until such time as an ombudsman is set up. A system wholly reliant on complaints is doomed to fail.”
ACS working with the Federation of Wholesale Distributors and the Scottish Grocers Federation wrote in response to the draft GSCOP published last week. The timetable for action by the Competition Commission remains unclear.
"The commission has still to act on the consumer harms that were identified well over a year ago - action is needed urgently," Lowman concluded.
No comments yet