The Competition Commission today (12 June 2015) published for comment draft Terms of Reference (TORs) for a grocery retail sector market inquiry. Written comments on these TORs must be submitted before 5pm on Friday 3 July 2015. This is the third market inquiry being conducted by the Competition Commission to date, and will be run concurrently with the market inquiries into the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) sector and the private healthcare sector.

The grocery retail sector market inquiry TORs provide an indication of the scope of the market inquiry and outline six major focus areas of the inquiry, namely:

• the impact of the expansion, diversification and consolidation of national supermarket chains on small and independent retailers;
• the impact of long term exclusive lease agreements;
• the dynamics of competition between local and foreign owned small and independent retailers;
• the impact of other regulations on small and independent retailers;  
• the impact of buyer groups on small and independent retailers; and
• the impact of certain value chains on the operations of small and independent retailers.

The grocery retail sector market inquiry TORs seem to focus on large supermarket chains and the effect that these have on small, informal and independent retailers. The inquiry also appears to be focused on fast moving consumer goods (for example food, toiletries, and/or liquor) at all levels of the supply chain. The likely participants will include all firms directly or indirectly involved in the grocery retail sector, including relevant trade associations, government departments, regulatory bodies, as well as consumers and consumer groups. The inquiry is also likely to require participation from those firms that have an impact on competition in the sector, including firms in the property market, finance institutions and suppliers.

To the extent that you have any queries related to the Commission's grocery retail market inquiry (or any of the other market inquiries) and the TORs, please contact your Webber Wentzel advisor for further insights.
Click here to download the draft grocery retail sector TORs.