UK competition regulator extends land rules to Aldi and Lidl

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has extended rules designed to prevent supermarket chains from using land agreements to block competing stores from opening nearby. Its final decision designates Aldi, Lidl GB and Lidl NI as “Large Grocery Retailers” under the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010.

The order has applied to Asda, Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose since 2010. Aldi and Lidl now face the same restrictions on land agreements as those retailers.

What the rules restrict

The rules target restrictive covenants—terms that limit how land can be used—and exclusivity arrangements that can prevent rival supermarkets from opening nearby. Once designated, a retailer cannot put restrictions prohibited by the order into new agreements.

Lidl has separate businesses in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which accounts for the separate Lidl GB and Lidl NI designations.

The CMA expects the extension to help shoppers get better local product choice and prices by allowing supermarkets to compete more freely. Those are the regulator’s anticipated benefits, not measured results of this decision.

Existing agreements can be reviewed

The decision follows an August consultation. The CMA said all interested parties that submitted views supported its proposal, and it received no representations from Aldi, Lidl GB or Lidl NI.

For existing agreements, interested landowners, developers and rival supermarkets can now ask the CMA to conduct a review. That route applies to Aldi and both Lidl businesses, just as it does to the other designated supermarkets.