Sainsbury’s has been granted leave by the High Court to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Advertising Standards Authorities’ (ASA) ruling over Tesco’s ‘Price Promise’.
Sainsbury’s challenged the ASA ruling of July 2013 which enabled Tesco to compare the overall cost of a basket of its branded, own-label and fresh food against the same or equivalent products from Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison’s. Sainsbury’s argued that Tesco Price Promise was misleading and compared apples with pears by failing to take into account product attributes such as relative quality, provenance and ethics. The initial ruling allowed Tesco to compare Sainsbury’s Fair Trade Every Day Tea basics with its own which are not, and Sainsbury’s basics cooked ham which is entirely sourced from Britain, against Tesco’s which is not.
Following a review of evidence, the Court has now ruled that "It is sufficiently arguable that there was an error of law in the ASA's approach to the matching of items for comparison, which error the Reviewer failed to identify".
The case will now proceed to a formal hearing in approximately six months time.
Mike Coupe, Group Commercial Director and CEO Designate, Sainsbury's said: "We are delighted the Judicial Review will go ahead. We do not believe it is fair to compare own-label products of different supermarkets. Our customers value our values. We strongly believe the quality of our own-label products is better than the immediate competition and this is a position we will fight strongly to protect. Values are fundamental to the way we do business and drive everything we do. We know these values matter to our customers and we will do everything in our power to ensure they can make informed choices about what they buy."