Remaking of Sunsetting Instrument without Significant Amendments – Department of the Treasury
On 23 July 2021, the Governor General remade with only minor amendments the Retail Grocery Industry (Unit Pricing) Code of Conduct (the Code). The Trade Practices (Industry Codes – Unit Pricing) Regulations 2009 containing the Code were due to sunset on 1 October 2021. The newly remade (and renamed) Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes—Unit Pricing) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) commence on 1 October 2021 and will sunset on 1 October 2031.
The Regulations prescribe a mandatory industry code for the retail grocery industry under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The Code applies to:
- grocery retailers with more than 1,000 squares metres of floor space who sell the minimum range of food-based grocery items; and
- online retailers who sell the minimum range of food-based grocery items.
Smaller retailers not covered by the Code may choose to adopt unit pricing if they sell the minimum range of 11 food-based grocery items (bread; breakfast cereal; butter; eggs; flour; fresh fruit and vegetables; fresh milk; meat; rice; sugar; and other packaged foods). If a retailer opts in to unit pricing, they must comply with all of the Code’s requirements.
Minor amendments were made to the Code to reflect modern drafting standards, which involved:
- some reordering of the existing requirements to improve the readability of the Code (but not intended to alter existing requirements); and
- using technology neutral language (i.e. using the term ‘internet’ in place of ‘website’ to allow the Code to be flexible in light of future internet-reliant technologies used by grocery retailers).
Consistent with the Government’s Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) requirements for sunsetting instruments, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has, after consultation with stakeholders, assessed the instrument as operating effectively and efficiently. Therefore, a RIS is not required for remaking this instrument.
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