The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a final determination granting conditional authorisation* to a Retailer Alert Scheme, which is designed to deal with inappropriately named or packaged alcohol products.
The Retailer Alert Scheme provides a national system for the removal of inappropriately named or packaged alcohol products from the market. If a complaint about the name or packaging of an alcohol beverage is made, and the product is found not to comply with the Alcohol Beverages Advertising (and Packaging) Code, then a Retailer Alert will be issued. Retailers who are signatories to the code have agreed not to place further orders for stock that is the subject of a Retailer Alert. Suppliers who are signatories to the code, and whose products are the subject of a Retailer Alert, have agreed to cease supplying non-compliant stock to the market, and to reimburse retailers for non-compliant stock returned to the supplier.
"The ACCC accepts that inappropriate naming and packaging of alcohol products may contribute to unsafe drinking patterns and underage drinking," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today. "The ACCC considers that the Retailer Alert Scheme will deliver a benefit to the public by providing a national system for the removal of inappropriately named or packaged alcohol products from the market."
The ACCC has granted authorisation subject to three conditions. The first condition requires the applicants to remove the scheme's 'grandfather' provisions, which would have protected pre-existing products from the sanctions of the scheme.
"The ACCC considers that the objectives of the Retailer Alert Scheme will only be met if retailers and suppliers are obliged to remove all non-compliant products from the market, regardless of when the products first entered the market," Mr Samuel said.
In a submission to the ACCC, the applicants have stated that there will be little or no industry buy-in if the 'grandfather' provisions are removed. The applicants are effectively arguing that industry may choose not to sign up to the scheme (which they contend, and the ACCC has agreed, is in the public interest) if the requirement for the 'grandfather' provisions to be removed is continued.
"The ACCC has made its determination based on the tests set out in legislation and in the public interest," Mr Samuel said. "It will not allow the applicants to dissuade it from making the right decision based on claims that industry will walk away from the scheme. The 'grandfather' provisions are entirely inconsistent with the Retailer Alert Scheme, and the applicants have not put forward any persuasive arguments which support their inclusion in the scheme.
"The ACCC considers that if the applicants support the objective of the Retailer Alert Scheme, the contents of the ABAP code, and the process by which complaints will be handled, then they should be willing to allow the sanctions of the Retailer Alert Scheme to apply to all non-compliant products."
The second condition requires non-compliant products to be removed from the market within 30 days of a Retailer Alert being issued.
The third condition requires the applicants to provide the ACCC with a report, by no later than 31 March 2011, regarding the results of an independent review to be conducted into the effectiveness of the Retailer Alert Scheme. The report must include details regarding the education campaign conducted in relation to the scheme.
The final determination will be available from the ACCC website.