ACCC chief distances body from supermarket monopoly control role
The Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has moved to distance the body from being perceived as arbiter of the role of the big supermarket brands in the Australian market.
Rod Sims of the ACCC
He said it was the role of the courts to be the ‘ultimate umpire’, and the ACCC’s role was only to ‘protect the competitive process’.
He spoke at the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s industry forum in Canberra, to provide ‘a regulator’s perspective on the debate surrounding the market share held by the two major supermarket chains.’
“At the ACCC, we are completely clear that our role is only to protect the competitive process, and this is how we see the current debate,” Rod Sims.
“It is simply incorrect to label all those who question aspects of the degree of market power of the major supermarket chains as people wanting to protect inefficient businesses.
“Second, we see the supermarket issues capable of being dealt with under the Competition and Consumer Act, and we do not see use of the Act as excessive regulation.
“Indeed, effective implementation of the Act is vital for the success of our market economy. It provides clear and wide boundaries within which we can all benefit from the power of the profit motive. It is incorrect to argue that a market economy needs no regulation. It requires a modest amount of appropriate regulation to be effective, and this is what the Act provides."
He said: “Our enforcement role, therefore, is not to be a decision maker. This is for the courts which are, of course, the ultimate umpire, as they should be.”
Mr Sims said that, as an enforcement body, the ACCC can investigate market activity and, where appropriate, take court action seeking injunctions to stop conduct and seek penalties in appropriate cases.