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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Report tackles supermarket powers | Report tackles supermarket powers |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Measures designed to curb the power of major supermarkets and improve choice for consumers have been announced by the Competition Commission. | Measures designed to curb the power of major supermarkets and improve choice for consumers have been announced by the Competition Commission. |
| Recommended changes to the planning system will make it harder for one chain to dominate a local area. | Recommended changes to the planning system will make it harder for one chain to dominate a local area. |
| And a new independent ombudsman will resolve any disputes between suppliers and retailers. | And a new independent ombudsman will resolve any disputes between suppliers and retailers. |
| The measures come at the end of a two-year investigation into the UK's supermarket sector. | The measures come at the end of a two-year investigation into the UK's supermarket sector. |
| "Although, in many areas, there is good choice and strong competition between retailers, there are also a significant number of local areas where larger grocery stores face limited competition and local shoppers lose out," the Competition Commission said. | |
| Retailers with good practices and relationships should have nothing to fear Competition Commission | |
| As a result, under the new proposals, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) would have to be consulted on all planning applications to build new larger supermarkets or extend existing ones and would apply a "competition test". | |
| Applications from retailers that do not already have a store in the area or where consumers have a choice of four or more different chains, will pass that test, the Competition Commission said. | |
| Protecting suppliers | |
| A new supermarket ombudsman will oversee a stronger code of practice that will cover all grocery retailers with a turnover greater than £1bn. | |
| It will investigate any complaints made by suppliers against supermarkets, and the Competition Commission recommends that it should have the power to "levy significant financial penalties" on retailers if they do not comply with the ombudsman's findings. | It will investigate any complaints made by suppliers against supermarkets, and the Competition Commission recommends that it should have the power to "levy significant financial penalties" on retailers if they do not comply with the ombudsman's findings. |
| Crucially for suppliers, it will accept confidential information about retailers from suppliers and producers. | Crucially for suppliers, it will accept confidential information about retailers from suppliers and producers. |
| "Retailers with good practices and relationships should have nothing to fear," the regulator said. | |
| There are no proposals to address the complaints of independent retailers that they are being squeezed out by the larger supermarket chains. | |
| Consumers were benefitting from the intense rivalry between stores, the report concluded, and smaller shops were "not in terminal decline". | |
| "It is not impossible for them to compete and in the current economic climate the benefits of vigorous competition are as relevant as ever," the report said. |