Grocery Commissioner publishes open letter to industry and releases ComCom's letters to retailers on Code compliance

Open letter to the sector The Grocery Commissioner has sent an open letter to the sector, highlighting the Grocery Supply Code, and reiterating the obligations on regulated grocery retailers – Foodstuffs South Island, Foodstuffs North Island and Woolworths New Zealand. The open letter reminds suppliers that there is no deadline for them to have signed any agreements from retailers. They are encouraged to take their time to review the terms, seeking legal advice or clarification from retailers if required. The open letter also highlights the Commission’s expectation that what is offered to suppliers complies with the Code but will now be monitoring compliance closely. Major supermarkets have had six months to ensure agreements were compliant with the Code, with a grace period which ended on 28 March. The Commission has also released the correspondence between the Commission and the three regulated grocery retailers (RGRs),  Foodstuffs North Island, Foodstuffs South Island, and Woolworths New Zealand, regarding their GSAs. Calling on suppliers to come forward The Commission is calling on suppliers to come forward if there are any concerns around non-compliance or potential unfair treatment from major supermarkets. They can contact the Commission directly, or through its new anonymous reporting tool on the website here.  The recently launched anonymous reporting tool is a confidential channel which enables people to remain anonymous, removing any risk of retaliation, when coming forward to the Commission with information about concerning or inappropriate behaviour.

Tēnā koe The Commerce Commission has published an open letter to the Grocery sector outlining our focus for 2024. This letter builds on the Grocery Commissioner’s previous communications with the sector, and provides an update on key aspects of the Commission’s work to date, including: