Iceland Foods has called on the major grocery suppliers to sign up to a code of practice identical to that signed by the supermarkets to stop retailers being bullied by multinational conglomerates.

Whilst the ten largest grocers in the UK are bound by the principles of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP), which is designed to protect suppliers from being bullied by supermarkets, Iceland believes that the biggest suppliers to supermarkets are just as capable of bullying and should agree to the same standards. 

According to The Mail on Sunday, Iceland’s legal director, Duncan Vaughan, has told Grocery Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon, that he wanted larger suppliers to “sign up to similar principles of fair play”. He told the newspaper: “Ideally, there would be no need for any extension of the Adjudicator’s remit because larger suppliers would self-regulate and behave fairly towards smaller retailers. However, if they won’t do it voluntarily, and to ensure a level playing field, they should be bound by the same principles of fairness as retailers.” 

His comments come after Iceland’s Chief Executive Malcolm Walker wrote an open letter to trade magazine Retail Week last year saying: “Big branded manufacturers can and do try to push us around in exactly the same way that some retailers allegedly bully their smaller suppliers.”