CAMRA to lodge beer tie "super complaint" by end of the month

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) will lodge a fast track "super complaint" with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about the beer tie by the end of this month.

The consumer group, which questions the fairness of the tie but supports its principle, will meet with OFT officials within the next week to discuss how its complaint should be structured - in the wake of the Business and Enterprise Committee (BEC) report into pubco power.

It will be the first time CAMRA has used its status to lodge a super complaint with the OFT.

As part of its super-complainant status the OFT must respond to CAMRA within 90 days saying how it will deal with the issue.

Jonathan Mail, CAMRA's head of policy and public affairs, confirmed a complaint would be lodged before the end of June.

He added: "What appeals is the OFT has the resources and power to do a proper and stringent economic analysis of the beer tie. It will hopefully identity what can be done to sort out the problems."

The BEC report was critical of the way the current pubco model operates and recommended the tie be referred to the Competition Commission.

But CAMRA is opposed to the tie being referred to the competition authorities, arguing a lengthy investigation would "create huge disruption and uncertainty".

Instead it wants an independent study into the beer by the OFT before a decision on whether it should go to the Competition Commission.

Mail added: "I'm confident our super complaint will make it first before the government makes a decision about a Competition Commission investigation."

However, it could be a race against time as BEC MPs are expecting the government to respond to their Competition Commission recommendation before parliamentary summer recess on July 21.