Tesco says the OFT’s ruling is ‘entirely without substance’ and believes the long delay in resolving these cases, together with their evidential flaws, illustrate some important weaknesses in the current UK competition regime.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco’s director of corporate and legal affairs, said: “We are disheartened and disturbed that the OFT continues to pursue this costly and time-consuming case at the expense of both the tax payer and UK business. This is all the more surprising given that the OFT itself said that ‘competition in the supermarket sector is generally intense and has delivered significant benefits to shoppers’.
“We have always said we did not collude on prices on cheese and we stand firm in our rebuttal of these ongoing allegations. We will continue to defend our position vigorously, through the courts if necessary.”
In 2010, the OFT dropped its 2002 milk allegation and 2003 butter allegation against all parties, and its 2003 milk allegation against Tesco.
The OFT has announced an infringement decision in relation to the pricing of UK cheese more than seven years ago, despite Tesco’s insistence, backed by firm evidence, that its pricing decisions were unilateral and it did not collude with other retailers.
Neville-Rolfe said: “We surely have now reached the stage where the absurdity of the OFT operating as investigator, prosecutor and judge cannot be allowed to continue. The government’s plans for the new competition regime must address this anomaly, in the interests of the consumer and the business community.”
In April 2010, the OFT cleared Tesco of any wrongdoing following a seven-year investigation into alleged tobacco price fixing. In refuting the OFT’s cheese pricing allegation, Tesco has criticised the legitimacy of evidence and the length and execution of the administrative process.
Source: Tesco
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