At the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 3 February, EU countries expressed differing views over elements of the ‘common market organisation’ (CMO) section of the proposals aimed at strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain.
The national experts continued their examination of the proposals that were being tabled (see EUROPE 13566/9).
Written contracts. Some Member States indicated that they were not supportive of the proposed derogations (e.g. delivery of milk and dairy products) from the requirement to have in place written contracts for SMEs, since they would be far too broad.
On the contrary, a number of other delegations welcomed the proposed derogations. A number of Member States also stated that they were in favour of wider use of written contacts under certain conditions, or those that contained technical clarifications, while other Member States did not support them at all (such as Austria, Sweden, Denmark, etc.).
Mediation. The proposal states that Member States will have to “establish a mediation mechanism where no mutual agreement to conclude a contract is reached”. Many Member States believe that this mediation mechanism should be optional, and therefore not compulsory. Some delegations also called for greater flexibility in how to use the existing systems.
With regard to producer organisations (POs), some Member States did not support the extension of the derogation from competition rules to non-recognised POs. Others, however, indicated that they would support the proposal subject to specific conditions. Some Member States felt that the recognition process for POs should be simpler.
The following comments were also made: - some Member States expressed their doubts over the use of the terms ‘fair’ and ‘equitable’ as optional terms for labelling; - with regard to the ‘short supply chain’ label, some countries wanted to put in place clearer conditions, while others gave warnings about excessive bureaucracy or rules that overlapped each other.
According to the proposal, promoting the use of initiatives and using optional terms to designate commercial arrangements, such as ‘fair’, ‘equitable’ and ‘short supply channels’, “should be included in the list of objectives that a recognised interbranch organisation may pursue”.
As at the last Agriculture Council, producer Member States also called for additional provisions in the text with regard to e-labelling for wine. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)