JUDGEMENT ON ACCC WOOLWORTHS SUPPLIER CASE

Comments from Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) CEO, Mr Gary Dawson.

Today’s Federal Court judgement in the case brought by the ACCC against Woolworths will have lasting negative ramifications for the food and grocery sector.

It sends a terrible message when a practice that’s tantamount to extortion is deemed acceptable and normal business practice.

The pressure is now on Woolworths to make good on their claim that they have changed and will honour their commitments under the Code of Conduct, which clearly prohibits these sort of retrospective claims under threat of retribution.

We commend the ACCC for taking this case on and shining a light on these practices. The ACCC’s ongoing enforcement of the Code of Conduct is also important in ensuring it will further drive behavioural change to encourage fair and effective competition in the long term interests of consumers.

We welcome the commitment from Woolworths’ senior management that practices like retrospective profit gap demands won’t be repeated and we remain committed to working with Woolworths to improve trading relationships through their supply chain.
 

-ENDS-

AFGC Media Contact: James Mathews 0407 416 002