Guidance

Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010

This order limits large grocery retailers’ ability to prevent land being used by their competitors for grocery retailing in the future.

Documents

Details

The Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010 (CLO) is one of 2 orders made following the Competition Commission’s 2006 to 2008 inquiry into the supply of groceries in the UK. The other was the Groceries Market Investigation (Supply Chain Practices) Order 2009.

There are 7 designated large grocery retailers that the order currently applies to:

  • Tesco plc
  • J Sainsbury plc
  • Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc
  • Asda Stores plc
  • Co-operative Group Limited
  • Waitrose Limited
  • Marks and Spencer plc

Schedule 4 of the CLO sets out a test to determine whether a restrictive covenant or exclusivity arrangement may restrict competition. This test is carried out by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

For guidance on the CMA’s procedure for dealing with requests to carry out the Test in Schedule 4 to the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010, see the CLO Procedures Guidance page. The results of any tests carried out by the CMA can be found in the register of decisions.

Article 11 of the CLO obliges large grocery retailers to notify the CMA about store acquisitions. An optional notification form is available for this.

Enforcement work in relation to Waitrose: Open letter to Waitrose.

Guidance on the application of competition law to land agreements is also available.

Contact

RemediesMonitoringTeam@cma.gov.uk

Published 10 August 2010
Last updated 27 November 2020 + show all updates
  1. Responses to the consultation and Interim update to Procedures Guidance published.

  2. Paragraphs 12 -15 in the 'Procedures for carrying out the test in Schedule 4' amended and Annex 3 added to reflect the CMA will now be drawing the isochrones in-house.

  3. Procedures for carrying out the test in Schedule 4 updated.

  4. First published.