Fair Pint 'encouraged' by EU meet on beer tie

Fair Pint members held an "encouraging" meeting with EU officials earlier this week over the legality of the beer tie.

The anti-beer tie campaign group met with MEPs in Brussels in a bid to persuade them to act on the beer tie after the Office of Fair Trading gave it a clean bill of health.

The group also held a joint meeting with the Campaign for Real Ale and trade union GMB with officials at the Commission DG for Health and Consumers.

Europe's competition department, Directorate General Competition, is studying the beer tie as it re-examines the Block Exemptions that grant some commercial agreements, including the tie, an opt-out from competition law.

"Our visit shows that there is a growing interest in the EU institutions in the problems faced by the UK pub sector, how operation of the tie is leading to the failure of tied pub businesses and rising prices for consumers and raising concern about the use of the Block Exemption as a justification for exploitative relationships between tenants and pub companies," said Fair Pint steering group member Mark Dodds.

"We have been encouraged by our meeting with the Commission DG for Health and Consumers, and our meeting with the DG Commission in September, that the Commission is considering the possibility of changes to the Block Exemption to end anti-competitive practices in the British pub market."