EuroCommerce, the group that represents the retail and wholesale industry in Europe, has reiterated its call for the European Council, Parliament and Commission to ensure that the Unfair Trading Practices directive doesn't act against the interests of farmers, SMEs and consumers.
With the UTP Directive now entering the final stages of negotiation, EuroCommerce said it was 'concerned' that in the ' rush to reach compromises on the over 140 amendments put forward by the Parliament, the EU does not end up with a directive which puts farmers and SME suppliers at a massive disadvantage to large manufacturers, endangers small shops and kills off competition'.
The group has written to Commissioner Hogan and other Commissioners involved in the trilogies to explain the potential negative impact on the supply chain that an unchecked UTP Directive could have.
Wide-Ranging Rights
“We are the sector who will be very directly affected by a measure which gives wide-ranging rights to suppliers, and none to buyers," commented EuroCommerce Director-General Christian Verschueren.
"The only way to avoid the unforeseen consequences of these ideas creating massive damage to the supply chain is either to stick closely to the Commission proposal, particularly on scope, or submit these new ideas to a proper assessment of their impact. All EU institutions have signed up to this principle under the Inter-Institutional Agreement on better regulation.”
EuroCommerce called on the three EU institutions to observe the inter-institutional agreement they signed in 2016, ensuring that no amendment to the Commission proposal is adopted without a clear idea on its impact on the supply chain.
“We have absolutely no interest in seeing the many small suppliers, with whom retailers put considerable effort into building a mutually beneficial relationship, being harmed," Verschueren added.
"We are worried to see a proposal aimed at helping farmers being hijacked by large manufacturers to boost their already large profits. Resolution of the outstanding issues in the proposal must be on the basis of a careful and considered approach which takes full account of the interests of farmers, the 29 million Europeans directly employed by our sector – and the 500 million consumers they serve every day.”
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
