Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the level of prevalence of multinational companies marketing (a) beers and (b) brewery brands as being from (i) small and independent brewers and (ii) from a specific geographical location.

The Department for Business and Trade has not made a specific assessment of the level of prevalence of multinational companies marketing beers and brewery brands as being from small and independent brewers or from a specific geographical location.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices, including misleading actions that are likely to impact the average consumer’s transactional decision. This could include multinational beverage companies misrepresenting where their alcohol products are produced. Misrepresentation may be taken as an unfair trading practice and constitute an offence.