UK BEER ORDERS 1989 - REVOCATION

Introduction

The Beer Orders have been revoked in their entirety.

17/01/2003 - Revocation of “The Supply of Beer (Tied Estate) Order 1989 (as amended by The Supply of Beer (Tied Estate) (Amendment) Order 1997)”

10/02/03 - Revocation of “The Supply of Beer (Loan Ties, Licensed Premises and Wholesale Prices) Order 1989” 

Background

The 1989 Orders were introduced following the Monopolies and Mergers Commission report, The Supply of Beer (CM651, ISBN 0 10 1065124), which was published in March 1989.

The report contained a number of adverse findings related to the vertical links between brewing and pub retailing, and made recommendations aimed at loosening the tie between pub retailing and brewing in order to facilitate easier entry by, and increasing competition between, competing brewers, wholesalers and pub retailers.

On 14 January 2000, the Director General of Fair Trading (DGFT) announced a review of the 1989 Beer Orders, and submitted a report to the Secretary of State on 31 July 2000. This is available on the OFT's website, www.oft.gov.uk.

Melanie Johnson, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Competition, Consumers and Markets, announced on 19 February 2002 that the Beer Orders would be revoked in their entirety (see Press Release P/2002/107).

A statutory Notice of the Secretary of State's intention to lay two draft revocation Orders before Parliament was published in the Financial Times and the Independent, and in the London, Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes, on 17 May 2002 and in the Morning Advertiser on 23 May 2002.

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