The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally decided that Aldi and Lidl should be subject to the same rules as the UK’s biggest supermarket chains. The German discount supermarkets have previously been excluded from a 2010 ban on restrictive covenants and exclusivity arrangements. The order is designed to stop large grocery retailers (LGRs) from using land agreements to make it harder for rival supermarkets to open nearby. “We want everyone to have the best choice of supermarket and range of prices when buying their groceries,” said Juliette Enser, executive director of competition enforcement and markets at the CMA. “To ensure this happens, we put rules in place to prevent big supermarket chains blocking rival stores from opening nearby – and now we propose applying those rules to Aldi and Lidl, too.