Woolworths is calling on Aldi to sign the new supermarket code of conduct, claiming the discount chain’s private label products may be infringing on the intellectual properties of other national brands.

The voluntary code, agreed to by Coles, Woolworths, and the Australian Food and Grocery Council last month, will restrict the major supermarkets using their market power to alter agreements with suppliers, who have complained of having their profits squeezed by the big retailers.

“One of our major competitors has 96 per cent of their range that is own-brand,” Woolworths MD of supermarkets, Tjeerd Jegen, told The Australian Financial Review

“If you don’t look carefully, you’d think it came from suppliers’ brands.”

The German-based supermarket chain, which first landed on Australian shores in 2001, is yet to declare its position on the code.

“In order to get a level playing, I can’t understand why every retailer is not signing up to the code,”Jegen said.

“Everyone is asking for a level playing field and we’re providing it now.”