The British Independent Fruit Growers’ Association (Bifga) has said the proposals made in last month’s Competition Commission (CC) provisional decision on remedies in its groceries market investigation are “the absolute minimum needed to even begin to correct the imbalance between buyer power of the larger retailers and the vulnerability of suppliers”.

The association’s chairman, John Breach, has sent a written response to the commission, in which he said Bifga was “pleased to note” the proposed creation of a new Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) and the recommendation to establish an ombudsman.

But Breach said his members would like to see more from any ombudsman than the recommendations contained in the CC report thus far. “We believe the proposals should go even further, by giving the ombudsman a role more akin to that of a proactive, permanent regulator,” he said in his reply. “Due to fear of delisting, it is very unlikely that a supplier will take a complaint to an ombudsman.

“What might help would be for the ombudsman to very openly declare that he or she intends contacting a selection of primary producers in all sectors to check the working of the GSCOP. If it became generally known that enquiries were taking place, even those who were not contacted might feel safe to contact the ombudsman directly.”

But Bifga warns that the climate of fear is likely to persist until any ombudsman has been able to demonstrate intolerance of inappropriate retail behaviour.

Topics