BETA

Awaiting committee decision



2015/2065(INI) Unfair trading practices in the food supply chain
Next event: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading 2016/01/18
RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Opinion AGRI MCGUINNESS Mairead (EPP)
Opinion ENVI MAZURONIS Valentinas (EFD)
Lead IMCO JACKIEWICZ Dawid Bohdan (ECR) CORAZZA BILDT Anna Maria (EPP), SEHNALOVÁ Olga (S&D), ROCHEFORT Robert (ALDE), DE JONG Dennis (GUE/NGL), ŠOLTES Igor (Verts/ALE), ZULLO Marco (EFD)
Opinion JURI
Lead committee dossier: IMCO/8/02015
Legal Basis RoP 052

Activites

  • 2016/01/18 Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
  • 2015/04/29 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • 2014/07/15 Non-legislative basic document published
    • COM(2014)0472 summary
    • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/', 'title': 'Enterprise and Industry'}, BIEŃKOWSKA Elżbieta

Documents

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

activities/1/committees/1/date
2015-04-01T00:00:00
activities/1/committees/1/rapporteur
  • group: EFD name: MAZURONIS Valentinas
committees/1/date
2015-04-01T00:00:00
committees/1/rapporteur
  • group: EFD name: MAZURONIS Valentinas
activities/2
date
2016-01-18T00:00:00
body
EP
type
Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
activities/0/docs/0/celexid
CELEX:52014DC0472:EN
activities/0/docs/0/text
  • PURPOSE: to tackle unfair trading practices (UTPs) in the business-to-business food supply chain.

    BACKGROUND: cross-border trade between EU Member States now accounts for about 20% of total food and beverage production in the EU.

    UTPs may have harmful effects, especially on SMEs in the food supply chain. UTPs can broadly be defined as practices that grossly deviate from good commercial conduct, are contrary to good faith and fair dealing and are unilaterally imposed by one trading partner on another.

    Although it is difficult to assess its full extent and frequency, the problem of UTPs has been acknowledged by all stakeholders in the food supply chain. For example, in an EU-wide survey among suppliers in the food chain, 96% of the respondents said that they had already been subject to at least one form of UTPs. 83% of the respondents asserting that they were subject to UTPs said that UTPs increased their costs and 77% stated that UTPs reduced their revenues.

    The possible repercussions of UTPs at EU level have not only raised concerns in the European Commission but also in the European Parliament. In January 2012, the Parliament adopted a resolution which highlighted the European dimension of the imbalances in the food supply chain which can lead to unfair practices. This resolution identified a list of specific UTPs and called for them to be subject to specific regulation, supervision and sanctions. In order to better understand the issue, the Commission published a Green Paper on UTPs in January 2013.

    The CAP reform, notably through the new single Common Market Organisation, includes elements which aim at reducing the bargaining power gap between farmers and other parties in the food supply chain. A number of Member States have addressed UTPs at national level using many different approaches. Therefore, there remains a wide divergence in the way UTP issues in food supply chains are addressed in the EU.

    The Commission considers that the potential benefits of reducing UTPs could be substantial, especially for SMEs and microenterprises as these are more likely to be subject to UTPs and their effects than large companies are.

    CONTENT: the Commission communication aims at contributing to fair and sustainable commercial relationships and a level playing field for market participants in the food supply chain through helping to reduce the harmful effects and possible cross-border obstacles caused by UTPs, especially for SMEs.

    This Communication does not foresee regulatory action at EU level and does not prescribe a single solution to address the issue of UTPs. It suggests a combination of voluntary and regulatory frameworks, identifying UTPs and principles to address them, taking into account different national circumstances and approaches.

    The strategy laid down by the Commission follows a two-pillared approach:

    1) The adoption of the Supply Chain Initiative: the Supply Chain Initiative was developed in the context of the Commission’s High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain which is composed of national authorities and key stakeholder representatives at EU level from the supply and retail sides of the food sector.

    In November 2011, all market representatives involved in the Forum’s working party on UTPs jointly agreed on a set of principles of good practice in vertical relationships in the food supply chain. These principles include: (i) predictability of changes in contract terms; (ii) responsibility for own entrepreneurial risk; (iii) justifiability of requests and charges. In a second step, a voluntary framework for implementing the principles of good practice (the Supply Chain Initiative) was launched in September 2013.

    The Commission encourages all undertakings and relevant organisations in the food supply chain to sign up to a voluntary initiative addressing UTPs, in particular the Supply Chain Initiative. The governance group of the Supply Chain Initiative should continue its efforts to drive and facilitate the creation of national platforms in each EU Member State.

    The Commission will continue to support the exchange of best practices between Member States, e.g. by organising workshops with experts from national administrations.

    2) To guarantee respect at national level: if the weaker party in a commercial relationship is economically dependent on its stronger trading party, it may refrain from asking redress for a UTP through court litigation or voluntary resolution mechanisms.

    This is why the Commission invites Member States to: (i) assess the effectiveness and credibility of their available mechanisms for the enforcement of rules against UTPs; (ii) consider whether further procedural or organisational measures may be appropriate, drawing on best practice in other Member States.

    Particular attention should be given to the capacity to preserve the confidentiality of individual companies submitting complaints and the possibility to conduct investigations.

    The Commission will monitor and assess the progress made by evaluating (i) the actual impact of the Supply Chain Initiative and its national platforms and (ii) the enforcement mechanisms set up by Member States to increase all parties' trust and confidence in the proper functioning of a sustainable food supply chain.

    The Commission will present a report to the Council and the European Parliament at the end of 2015. In light of this report, the Commission will decide whether further action should be taken at EU level to address these issues.

activities/1
date
2015-04-29T00:00:00
body
EP
type
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
committees
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
IMCO/8/02015
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Preparatory phase in Parliament
New
Awaiting committee decision
activities
  • date: 2014-07-15T00:00:00 docs: url: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=EN&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2014&nu_doc=0472 celexid: CELEX:52014DC0472:EN type: Non-legislative basic document published title: COM(2014)0472 body: EC commission: DG: url: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ title: Enterprise and Industry Commissioner: BIEŃKOWSKA Elżbieta type: Non-legislative basic document published
committees
  • body: EP responsible: False committee: AGRI date: 2015-03-17T00:00:00 committee_full: Agriculture and Rural Development (Associated committee) rapporteur: group: EPP name: MCGUINNESS Mairead
  • body: EP responsible: False committee: ENVI date: 2015-04-01T00:00:00 committee_full: Environment, Public Health and Food Safety rapporteur: group: EFD name: MAZURONIS Valentinas
  • body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: CORAZZA BILDT Anna Maria group: S&D name: SEHNALOVÁ Olga group: ALDE name: ROCHEFORT Robert group: GUE/NGL name: DE JONG Dennis group: Verts/ALE name: ŠOLTES Igor group: EFD name: ZULLO Marco responsible: True committee: IMCO date: 2014-09-24T00:00:00 committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection (Associated committee) rapporteur: group: ECR name: JACKIEWICZ Dawid Bohdan
  • body: EP responsible: False committee_full: Legal Affairs committee: JURI
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ title: Enterprise and Industry commissioner: BIEŃKOWSKA Elżbieta
procedure
reference
2015/2065(INI)
title
Unfair trading practices in the food supply chain
legal_basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
stage_reached
Preparatory phase in Parliament
subtype
Initiative
type
INI - Own-initiative procedure
subject