The Grocer – 10 August 2019

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It is illegal for retailers and suppliers to discuss supply & price of goods with each other

Whaley Bridge bakery takes hit after dam evacuation

Derbyshire-based whole-

sale bakery Buxton

Pudding Co, which

counts Harvey Nichols

among its clients, was

forced to halt produc-

tion and abandon its

premises after the partial

collapse of the nearby

Whaley Bridge dam.

The company was

evacuated on 1 August

after parts of the dam

wall collapsed, with

water at the Toddbrook

FDF calls for relaxation of

rules to aid no-deal planning

Ronan Hegarty
The food and drink
industry is seeking a
temporary relaxation of
competition law to aid
no-deal Brexit planning,
but legal experts pre-
dict the government is
unlikely to comply.
It emerged this week
that the Food & Drink
Federation has been lob-
bying the government
for a formal assurance
that retailers and suppli-
ers can work together in
the public interest to plan
and alleviate problems
that might arise from a
no-deal on 31 October.
Under current compe-
tition law, it is illegal for
retailers and suppliers to
discuss supply arrange-
ments and price of goods
with each other. Any
breaches of these rules
can lead to fines from the
Competition & Markets
Authority running into
millions of pounds.
The FDF is seeking a
‘letter of comfort’ from
the watchdog to ensure

this would not be the

case in relation to critical

Brexit planning.

“Competition law is

important, but in the

event of no-deal disrup-

tion, if the government

wants the food supply

chain to work together

to tackle likely shortages

• to decide where to pri-
  oritise shipments – they

will have to provide cast-

iron written reassur-

ances that competition

law will not be strictly

applied to those dis-

cussions. Without such

assurances, any such

collaboration would risk

incurring large fines from

the CMA,” said FDF chief

operating officer Tim

Rycroft.

However, competi-

tion lawyers suggested

it was unlikely any such

changes would be put in

place.

“The CMA and its pre-

decessor, the OFT, are

not known for readily

relenting and allowing

the relaxation of competi-

tion laws,” said Caroline

Hobson, a competition

partner at law firm CMS.

“The food sector will

need to set out clearly the

parameters of what they

want to do and achieve.

Most importantly, the

sector will need to pre-

sent exceptional and

compelling arguments

to convince the CMA that

co-operation is abso-

lutely essential for the

public interest.”

Mark Jones, partner at

Gordons, agreed. “I think

there is little prospect of

the government relaxing

competition laws. While

the FDF may be push-

ing for the relaxation,

it would be a surprise if

retailers or suppliers had

a huge appetite to co-

ordinate supplies in the

wake of Brexit,” he said.

“The ‘big four’ control

almost 70% of the market

and if any of them have a

supply chain advantage

post-Brexit, it offers them

an opportunity to gain

market share. I cannot

see them wanting to help

their competitors.”

Reservoir soaring to

a “critical level” after

severe weather.

Since it produces on a

weekly basis, the craft

baker had been able to

deliver about 50% of

its orders by the day of

the evacuation, with

the remaining prod-

ucts dispatched over the

weekend.

Staff were allowed to

return to the bakery on

Wednesday, with the

incident resulting in an

£8k financial hit due to a

week’s worth of produc-

tion being lost.

“We are a small

business, but the inci-

dent has had a big

impact on us. It hit us

quite hard,” co-founder

Dominic McCall told The

Grocer.

The company said

its customers had been

“very understanding” of

the situation.