The NFF Horticulture Council has today welcomed both the final report by Dr Craig Emerson as part of his review of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, and the Federal Government response.
The final report builds on an earlier interim report tabled by Dr Emerson that foreshadowed already firm recommendations on making the Code mandatory, introducing significant penalties for non-compliance, and a more accessible dispute resolution process.
NFF Horticulture Council Chair, Jolyon Burnett, said the industry thanked Dr Emerson for his work and would now take some time to digest both his recommendations and the Government response before responding in detail.
“At face value, we can see benefit in requiring grocery agreements include the basis for determining prices, ensuring supermarket forecasts of required volumes are conducted with due care, and that produce standards and specifications must be reasonable,” Mr Burnett said.
“An updated Code, based on the recommendations accepted by Government, would be a vast improvement on the one currently in effect.
