Retailer Legislation To Restore Equity In Food Supply Chain Must Move Ahead
Referring to the recent Government publication announcing the Legislative Programme for the coming parliamentary session, IFA President John Bryan said farmers would be very disappointed the ‘Consumer and Competition Bill’ was not listed in the forthcoming Dail session.
Mr. Bryan said he would hold the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton to account on the clear commitment he had given at a meeting with IFA in June that this Bill would be published in the next Dáil session. The IFA President again called on the Government to prioritise this ‘Consumer and Competition Bill’ and address the serious inequities in the food supply chain.
The Consumer and Competition Bill, which is ‘to amalgamate the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority and to give effect to other changes to competition and consumer law including making provision for a statutory code of conduct for the grocery goods sector’, is listed under Bills in respect of which heads have been agreed and texts are being drafted, with publication expected in early 2012, according to the Legislative Programme.
Mr Bryan said both Government Parties had made a big play of this issue in the run up to the General Election, along with the Programme for Government commitment to ‘enact the Fair Trade Act, which will ban a number of unfair trading practices in the retail sector such as ‘hello money’ which suppliers have to pay to secure a place for their goods on supermarket shelves.
