On Tuesday 10 July, the European Parliament’s committee on agriculture, in Brussels, will examine the draft report by Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy), which strengthens the proposal on unfair trading practice (UTP) in the food supply chain (see EUROPE 12052, 12056).
Although the rapporteur largely supports the proposal, he nonetheless proposes several amendments: - extension of the scope to suppliers in the food supply chain which are not SMEs, in order to include farmers’ organisations; - extension of the scope to all agricultural products, including the horticultural sector, feed industry and other agricultural sectors not falling under food production; - extension of the definition of “buyer” to include those operators who, though established outside the EU, buy and sell products in the EU market (so that buyers do not escape the provisions of the directive by simply moving the place of establishment outside the EU); - inclusion of the provision of related services in the scope, together with processing, distribution or retail of agricultural or food products; - inclusion of a definition of “economic dependence” as a power relationship between a supplier and a buyer; - introduction of a payment term for non-perishable products at 60 days from receipt of the invoice (as also provided for in the 2011 directive on late payment); - exemption from the provisions on payment terms for all contributions from farmers to their producer organisations and cooperatives, as well as for the agreements of inter-branch organisations where those agreements concern quality products; - introduction of the possibility for member states to prohibit any other unfair trading practice; - inclusion of mandatory written contracts upon request of a supplier, and of the possibility for member states to encourage an increased contractualisation between different actors in the supply chain; - inclusion of the possibility for complainants to lodge a complaint to foreign authorities through their own national authorities; - extension to representative associations of the right to lodge a complaint on behalf of one or more of their members; - inclusion of the obligation for the enforcement authority to start an investigation within 60 days from the date on which the complaint is lodged, and to conclude it within six months. In duly justified cases, the six months can be extended by a further six months (thus, the whole investigation has to be concluded within 14 months from filing of the complaint); - inclusion of the obligation for the enforcement authority, in case an infringement has been established, to require the buyer to terminate the prohibited trading practice; - introduction of the possibility for member states to promote the use of mediation or an alternative dispute resolution mechanism; - introduction of the obligation for member states to include in their annual report to the Commission an evaluation on the effectiveness of the implemented measures in order to ban UTPs.
The rapporteur considers that work on the UTP issue should be completed by the end of the current legislature. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)