Food and Grocery Code of Conduct

The Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes—Food and Grocery) Regulation 2015 – the Food and Grocery Industry Code of Conduct – is a legally enforceable, voluntary prescribed code under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

What is the purpose of the Code?

The Code aims to:

increase certainty in trading relationships between suppliers and supermarkets
encourage sharing of risk
reduce inappropriate use of market power across the value chain.

The Code sets out clear obligations for grocery supply agreements to be discussed and agreed upfront. It does not seek to impose overly restrictive rules on commercial negotiations, but rather provides commercial flexibility within a set framework of requirements and controls on behaviour.

The Code has dispute resolution provisions. Where disputes cannot be resolved through the commercial arm of a business, options are available for suppliers, including:

a retailer’s Code Arbiter
mediation/arbitration
legal avenues
the ACCC.

An Independent Reviewer, appointed by government, oversees the dispute resolution process.

Signatories to the Code

Code training

Training for suppliers is available either in-house or online. The training covers:

Code obligations
how to use the Code in your day-to-day engagement with supermarket retailers
case studies.

Integrating the Code across all customer-facing business functions delivers the best results. Encourage staff to attend training every 2 years. Training is suitable for staff in:

commercial and accounts
supply chain
marketing
category and insights
legal.

Delegates complete an online assessment at the end of the training. If successful, they receive an AFGC Code of Conduct certificate. This training complements Competition and Consumer law training.

Contact us to book training

Code of Conduct support for members

AFGC members can login to access:

plain English guidance documents on specific topics
catalogued member communications
dispute resolution processes.

Log in to the member portal

Issues

AFGC operates an advice line for AFGC members. We can help with what practice may be covered by the Code.

Contact us at:

If you have a concern about the Code, get in touch with a signatories’ Code Arbiter or the Independent Reviewer.

Independent Reviewer

The Independent Reviewer oversees dispute resolution between suppliers and major retailers or wholesalers.

Based on issues raised by suppliers, the Independent Reviewer works with retailers and wholesalers to improve practices in the food and grocery supply industry.