Lidl MD:
Ireland: New retail conduct will have cost implications
Lidl managing director Kenneth McGrath, said that the chain, which operates in 26 European countries and has 135 stores in Ireland employing over 3,000 people, already had a very stringent code of conduct for dealing with its suppliers, and did not squeeze them for hello money or other alleged mispractices in the Irish retail scene.
"At Lidl, we shun the very notion of hello money," he told the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee.
Lidl would comply with any new regime that was introduced, but that would have a cost in terms of legal compliance and red tape.
A new code was unlikely to work in stamping out alleged problems in the Irish retail market, as suppliers already had legal rights under existing legislation but were reluctant to come forward to report abuses, Mr McGrath said.
Source: independent.ie
