European politicians have urged the European Commission to crack down on the “abuse of power” by retailers across the 27 member states.
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Some 439 MEPs have signed a declaration to ask the Commission to investigate the impact the growth of large food retailers has had on smaller businesses and suppliers.
“Retailing is increasingly dominated by a small number of supermarket chains and these retailers are fast-becoming ‘gatekeepers’, controlling farmers’ and other suppliers’ only real access to EU consumers,” the European Parliament said.
“Such squeezes on suppliers have negative knock-on effects on both quality of employment and environmental protection and consumers potentially face a loss in diversity of products, the cultural heritage and retail outlets.”
The signing of the declaration comes just days after the UK’s Competition Commission published the findings of its report into the UK grocery sector.
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By GlobalDataThe commission has recommended using a “competition test” to determine the opening of new stories and has also put forward measures designed to stop retailers from building banks of land assets.
The commission said it also wants to replace the existing code of practice between retailers and suppliers. The establishment of an independent ombudsman to enforce the code has been mooted.
