February 8, 2010The
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced further agreements with major supermarket operators to phase out restrictive provisions in supermarket leases.
Aldi Foods, Franklins, SPAR Australia, Australian United Retailers (trading as Foodworks) and Metcash have all agreed with the ACCC they will not enter into any new leasing agreement which includes restrictive provisions.
In the case of existing supermarket leases, they have also greed to not enforce any restrictive provisions beyond five years after the commencement of trading.
The announcement follows similar agreements reached with Coles Group and Woolworths in September last year, and is considered a significant achievement in further opening up competition in the industry.
As foreshadowed in September, the ACCC has been committed to the phasing out of this industry practice and has continued to engage with other supermarket operators, following the agreement reached with Coles and Woolworths in 2009.
ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel says these further agreements means many more shopping centres will no longer be “hamstrung by restrictive provisions”.
"These supermarkets, to their credit, have all acknowledged the concerns of the ACCC in respect to restrictive provisions and have acted responsibly in cooperating with the ACCC to phase out restrictive provisions," he says.
According to the ACCC, the enforceable undertakings entered into to date mean the majority of restrictive provisions in leases between supermarket operators and shopping centre landlords have now been dealt with.
