The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has welcomed the report of the Joint Parliamentary Inquiry into Retailing.

"The report contains a number of recommendations which, if adopted, should help address and overcome some concerns about the relationship between small business and big retail business without lessening competition," ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said yesterday.

"The ACCC notes the committee's implied warning that big retailers need to improve their practices or face, in three years, an inquiry about dealing with abuses of market power".