The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) has, on behalf of its members, developed an association with the Groceries Code Adjudicator, the UK’s first independent adjudicator to oversee the relationship between supermarkets and their suppliers.
The agreement is designed to ensure that large supermarkets treat their direct suppliers lawfully and fairly, investigates complaints and arbitrates in disputes.
Initially, BHETA has subscribed to the GCA newsletter to ensure it obtains legally binding advice ahead of general release. An example of the information available would be the GCA’s recent critical pronouncement on Tesco’s trading practices ahead of the briefing of the market in general. BHETA will also be attending The GCA Annual Conference in London on 27 June which will cover that investigation’s findings and other advisory information relevant to the industry.
BHETA’s Executive Chairman, David Smyth explained, “It’s important that BHETA can access the inside track on adjudications from a Government organisation that has power to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. This is in view of the fact that so many member companies now trade through the grocery channel.”
The GCA can investigate confidential complaints from any source about how supermarkets treat their supplier, make recommendations to retailers if a complaint is upheld, require retailers to publish details of a breach of the code, arbitrate disputes between retailers and suppliers and in the most serious cases, impose a fine on the retailer.
