Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [HL]
The Bill creates a new office – the Groceries Code Adjudicator – to enforce and oversee the Groceries Code – a code of practice that regulates the relationship between large retailers and their suppliers.
The Code was established by the Competition Commission in February 2010 following a two-year investigation into the groceries market. The Commission discovered a number of anti-competitive practices by big supermarkets which, in its view, posed a threat to the long-term interests of consumers. The Commission recommended that a new statutory body should be set up to enforce the Groceries Code, and in May 2011 the Coalition Government published a draft Bill to this effect. Following a report on the draft legislation by the Business, Innovation & Skills Select Committee, the final Bill was introduced in the Lords on 10 May 2012 (HL Bill 2). The Bill completed its scrutiny in the Lords on 24 July and was introduced that day in the Commons (Bill 62). A date for the Bill’s Second Reading debate has yet to be set.