Fairness in the food supply chain: Commission welcomes Parliament's support to ban unfair trading practices

Following today's vote in the plenary session of the Parliament in Strasbourg, Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “Today's vote is fundamentally about fairness for farmers in the food supply chain. The Commission tabled this proposal in April 2018 to ensure that farmers are treated fairly by parties throughout the food supply chain, and to provide this minimum protection all across the EU. This law is one of the key proposals of the Agricultural Markets Taskforce.  Today's vote demonstrates our ability to deliver for EU citizens.” 

The new European law builds on a proposal tabled by the European Commission and will cover agricultural and food products traded in the food supply chain, banning for the first time up to 16 unfair trading practices imposed unilaterally by one trading partner on another.

The rules voted today will apply to anyone involved in the food supply chain with a turnover of €350 million with differentiated levels of protection provided below that threshold. The new rules will cover retailers, food processors, wholesalers, cooperatives or producers' organisations, or a single producer who would be engaging in any of the unfair trade practices identified.

The new framework grants Member States the authority to enforce the new rules and impose sanctions in case of established infringements. The Commission will also set up a coordination mechanism between enforcement authorities to enable the exchange of best practices.

The unfair trading practices to be banned include: late payments for perishable food products; last minute order cancellations; unilateral or retroactive changes to contracts; forcing the supplier to pay for wasted products and refusing written contracts.

CONTINUE READING ON europa.eu