Bliv opdateret på de nye ændringer i EU-direktivet mod Unfair Trading Practice

EU-kommissionens arbejde for et nyt direktiv mod Unfair Trading Practice er en løbende proces, som vi hos MLDK Mærkevareleverandørerne følger tæt for at kunne oplyse jer bedst muligt om direktivet og dets indvirkninger. Status på processen er, at der netop er givet input til direktivet fra medlemmer af EU Parlamentets Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee samt fra Agriculture Committee. Disse inputs skal nu godkendes af EU parlamentet ved en plenarsamling den 22. oktober. Godkendes direktivets punkter, vil det være EU-parlamentets forhandlingsgrundlag med EU Rådet.

Der er desuden stor opbakning til initiativet blandt en række europæiske organisationer, som efter seneste afstemning udsendte en pressemeddelelse, hvor de udtrykker opbakning til initiativet. Du kan læse pressemeddelelsen lige her.

De foreløbige punkter i EU-direktivet er følgende:

 A. Member States shall ensure that, as a minimum, the following trading practices are prohibited:

1. a buyer pays a supplier for perishable agricultural or food products later than 30 calendar days after the receipt of the supplier’s invoice or later         than 30 calendar days after the date of delivery of the perishable agricultural or food products, whichever is the later. This prohibition shall be without prejudice: 1) to the consequences of late payments and remedies as laid down in Directive 2011/7/EU; 2) to the option of a buyer and a supplier to agree on a value sharing clause within the meaning of Article 172 a) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
2. a buyer unilaterally cancels orders of perishable agricultural or food products at such short notice that a supplier cannot be expected to find an alternative to commercialise or use these products;
3. a buyer unilaterally and retroactively changes the terms of the supply agreement concerning the frequency, timing or volume of the supply or delivery, the quality standards, the prices or the terms of payment of the agricultural or food products;
4. a supplier pays for the wastage of agricultural or food products that occurs once the product has passed into the buyer’s ownership and that is not caused by the negligence or fault of the supplier;                                                                                                                                            

4a) the buyer discloses to a third party or otherwise misuses, intentionally or negligently, confidential information shared with it by the supplier, such as the content of the supply contract or trade secrets; this covers use of such information by the buyer to develop its own competing product

4b) a buyer imposes or attempts to impose an unjustified or disproportionate transfer of his economic risk to the supplier.

B. Member States shall ensure that the following trading practices are prohibited, if they are not agreed in clear, unambiguous and easy to understand terms by the contracting parties at the conclusion of the supply agreement or if they are the result of the economic dependence of the supplier on the buyer, which enabled the buyer to impose those terms:

1. a buyer returns unsold agricultural or food products to a supplier;
2. a buyer charges a supplier payment as a condition for the stocking, displaying or listing of agricultural or food products of the supplier;
3. a supplier pays for the promotion of agricultural or food products sold by the buyer. Prior to a promotion and if that promotion is initiated by the buyer, the buyer shall specify the period of the promotion and the expected quantity of the agricultural or food products to be ordered;
4. a supplier pays for the marketing of agricultural or food products by the buyer;                                                                                                        

4a) the resale of agricultural or food products at a loss, except when it concerns products whose expiry date is two days after the date of sale.

C. If a payment is requested by the buyer for the situations described in points (b), (c) and (d) of paragraph 2, the buyer shall, if requested by the supplier, provide the supplier with an estimate of the payments per unit or overall, whichever is appropriate, and insofar as the situations described in points (b) and (d) of paragraph 2 are concerned also an estimate of the costs and the basis for such estimate.

D. Member States shall ensure that the prohibitions laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 constitute overriding mandatory provisions which are applicable to any situation falling within their scope, irrespective of the law otherwise applicable to the supply agreement between the parties.