CFA has written to the federal Minister for Consumer Affairs, Michael Sukkar MP, asking him to release the government’s plans for the regulations that require large supermarkets to provide shoppers with the unit price of pre-packaged grocery products.
The current regulations, which commenced on 1 July 2009, will sunset on 1 October 2019 unless renewed or replaced with new legislation.
Effective unit pricing enhances price transparency, facilitates informed consumer choice and increases competition.
While unit pricing in Australia has been beneficial for consumers and the economy, the current legislation does not mandate the display of unit pricing in a way that is sufficiently easy for consumers to notice, read and understand. Consumers’ confidence and ability to use unit pricing to make informed decisions at the supermarket could be increased by better regulation.
To remedy the inadequacies of the current unit pricing regulations, CFA has called for:
- The continuation of mandatory provision of grocery unit pricing by grocery retailers;
- More grocery retailers to be required to provide unit pricing;
- Improvements in the quality of the unit pricing provided by grocery retailers; and
- Other relevant retailers that sell pre-packaged products, such as chemists (for non-prescription products) and hardware stores, to be required to provide unit pricing.