Preliminary bill on unfair trade practices

April 1, Carola Schouten, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, informed the House of Representatives of the preliminary political agreement on unfair trade practices (OHP) in business-to-business relations in the food supply chain through a parliamentary letter.

During negotiations, the number of OHPs that will be banned came to 16. Among them: unreasonably late payments; canceling orders for perishable food products at short notice; unilaterally changing key contract terms and that food producers must pay for the spoilage of food and agricultural products that occurs after delivery and through no fault of the supplier.
Other OHPs that may be prohibited include: suppliers not being denied a written contract; demanding payment for services not rendered; buyers sharing confidential data with third parties; buyers not threatening retaliation and buyers not demanding money for handling complaints.

Also, some business practices are allowed only after clear and not ambiguous agreements in the purchase agreement: returning unsold agricultural food products; charging the supplier of agricultural food products for storage, promotions, marketing and other specifically named activities. Upon request, the buyer must be able to provide justification for the costs listed in the above. It is added that a buyer may charge costs for the use of employees to advertise products only after explicit agreements.

Minister Schouten indicates in the parliamentary letter that the bill is not yet final. Both the European Council and the European Parliament must first approve the proposal, after which the directive can be published. Publication is expected to take place in May.

The entire parliamentary letter can be found here: Parliamentary letter appreciating the European Unfair Trade Practices Directive in the food supply chain