Aldi and Lidl could be banned from using ‘legal tricks’ to beat competition
‘Level playing field’ rules for supermarkets are set to be reviewed following claims that Aldi and Lidl have an unfair advantage over rivals.
The German discount giants are exempt from rules which stop supermarkets using ‘restrictive land’ legal clauses to block other grocery businesses opening stores nearby.
Before the rules were introduced in 2010, big supermarkets would often get developers who were building retail parks or shopping centres to agree that only they could sell groceries on the site for a certain number of years.
The ban currently applies to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Co-op, Waitrose and M&S.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has taken action against all of those brands over more than 220 breaches between them in recent years.
Aldi and Lidl had a relatively small UK presence when the ban was introduced but have since leapfrogged rivals to become the fourth and sixth-biggest supermarket chains in the country respectively.
But they’ve since been accused by rival supermarkets of using the same restrictive land clauses.
Last year, Iceland boss Richard Walker said they were ‘preventing competition on retail parks’ by using ‘legal tricks’.
‘The German-owned supermarkets were just a twinkling in the CMA’s eye when this order was first made,’ he said at the time.
According to The Telegraph, the CMA has told supermarket bosses it is reviewing the situation.
They are said to be considering including Aldi and Lidl in the ban, but may also weigh up removing it altogether.
The Labour government has pushed for regulators to cut red tape, telling the CMA in February to be ‘more agile’.
A spokesperson for the CMA said: ‘We are aware of concerns that the Order should cover more supermarkets, due to changes in the groceries sector, and we always keep this under review to ensure a level playing field.’
Aldi and Lidl have yet to comment on the matter.
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