Menu
UK Parliament

Draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill

25 May 2011

Image of UK Parliament portcullis

The Government published the Draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill today. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has decided to take evidence on food producers views of the Draft Bill. The Committee will consider in particular:

  • The need for an adjudicator to enforce the Groceries Code,
  • whether the draft Bill’s provisions relating to investigations and recovery of investigation costs by the Adjudicator are sufficient and appropriate,
  • whether the concerns of indirect suppliers are met by the Draft Bill, and
  • whether the draft Bill’s provisions relating to the Adjudicator’s forms of enforcement following an investigation are sufficient and appropriate,
    Interested parties are invited to address these specific points and to provide general views on the Draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill in writing by Wednesday 8 June 2011.

The Committee will take oral evidence from representatives of the farming and food production industries. Dates and witnesses for oral evidence sessions will be confirmed shortly.

The Business, Innovation and Skills select committee will conduct pre-legislative scrutiny of the entirety of the draft Bill. Further details of the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee inquiry can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/

For further details about this inquiry, please contact Rebecca Ross, Agriculture Specialist to the Committee, on 020 7219 2735.

NOTES ON THE SUBMISSION OF EVIDENCE

Submissions should be in Word or rich text format and sent by e-mail to efracom@parliament.uk. The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from.

Submissions must address the matters outlined above. They should be as brief as possible, and no more than 1000 words. Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference.

Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during inquiries. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the Committee, please contact the Clerk of the Committee to discuss this. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

Personal information, such as address and contact details, should be provided separately from the body of your submission. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, no public use should be made of the submission unless you have first obtained permission from the Committee.