Responsibility for the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) will transfer from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to Defra from the start of July.
The change implements a key recommendation from Baroness Minette Batters’ landmark Farming Profitability Review to streamline oversight of the grocery supply chain and strengthens links to the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator (ASCA), which oversees the new fair dealing regulations.
The department said moving GCA sponsorship under it aligns the regulator’s work with its wider role and builds on wider action taken by government to ensure supply chains in the food sector are fair and transparent, including already introducing Fair Dealing rules for dairy and pigs.
The GCA was established under the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013 to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. It regulates the relationship between the UK’s largest grocery retailers and their direct suppliers by encouraging, monitoring and enforcing compliance with the Code.
The GCA will remain fully independent. There will be no changes to its statutory role or enforcement powers, and the Code of Practice will continue to be owned by the Competition and Markets Authority.
The GCA and the ASCA are separate Adjudicators with distinct remits, but who have the same overall aim of improving fairness and transparency in the food supply chain. They work closely and collaboratively to ensure the effectiveness of the Regulations they enforce.
Farming Minister Dame Angela Eagle said: “We are backing our farmers by creating a level playing right across the supply chain to ensure productive and profitable businesses can flourish.
“Moving responsibility for the Groceries Code Adjudicator to Defra will support a more joined-up approach to fairness across the food supply chain, while fully protecting its independence and statutory role.”
Groceries Code Adjudicator Mark White said: “I am looking forward to working more closely with Defra to continue to ensure fair treatment of direct suppliers to the designated retailers.”