On Monday 7 April, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) approved the Council’s negotiating mandate for a regulation establishing new rules to combat cross-border unfair trading practices (UTPs) in the food supply chain.
The proposed text, which accompanies that amending the common market organisation (CMO), introduces a mutual assistance mechanism enabling national enforcement authorities to request and exchange information, and to request that another authority take action on their behalf (see EUROPE 13615/6). It provides for a mechanism for coordinated action in the case of large-scale cross-border UTPs involving at least three EU countries. A coordinator would then be appointed to help find solutions.
The Council incorporates the main elements of the European Commission’s proposal, while making a number of improvements:
- addition of rules on cooperation between Member States in the event of unfair trading practices committed by buyers outside the EU in order to better protect European farmers;
- addition of rules on bearing costs in cases of mutual assistance: the Member State requesting information or investigative or enforcement measures would bear the costs incurred by the Member State carrying out the investigation or enforcement measures. In addition, the fines collected could be used to cover these costs.
The mandate specifies the rules for when a Member State refuses to comply with a request for information from the national authority of another Member State. The Council is ready to negotiate with MEPs.
See the Council's negotiating mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/gbe (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)