Today the Morrison Government has released draft amendments to the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct (Code) for public consultation.
The draft amendments are designed to ensure the right regulatory settings are in place to improve certainty, transparency and fairness between food and grocery retailers/wholesalers and their suppliers.
This delivers on our commitment to make important changes to the code following the independent review led by Professor Graeme Samuel AC. These changes include:
- enhancing the good faith obligations to make it clearer and more user friendly for the industry;
- strengthening the dispute resolution procedures to give suppliers more confidence in raising their complaints and having them resolved; and
- setting limits on acceptable conduct during price rise negotiations between the parties to restore trust and cooperation between parties.
The consultation process offers an opportunity for the industry to come together to lift the standard of business practice in a way that enables the industry to grow, innovate and remain sustainable.
The Government wants to hear stakeholders’ views on the preliminary drafting of these amendments to ensure the government’s commitments are implemented without unintended consequences.
To view the draft amendments and to find out more on how to make a submission, please visit the consultation page. Submissions are open until Monday June 3.
