From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., today reminded business-to-business buyers across the agricultural and food supply chain of their legal obligations under the Unfair Trading Practice (UTP) Regulations. Under the Regulations, all supply agreements for agri-food products must fully comply with the provisions of the UTP Regulations from 28th April 2022.
The Minister said:
“On 28th April last year, I signed into law the Unfair Trading Practices Regulations. Under these Regulations, buyers have had a year long lead-in period to ensure that their pre-existing supply agreements for agricultural and food products are brought into full compliance with the provisions of the UTP Regulations. I have issued frequent reminders over the last number of months on the need for buyers to be aware of this fact. Let me be very clear. Buyers must use the next month to ensure that they have taken appropriate action to ensure full compliance with the Regulations. The UTP Enforcement Authority remains available to assist buyers with any queries they may have to help them understand their obligations under the Regulations. The Authority will be following up any non-compliance matters brought to its attention by impacted suppliers.”
The Minister also expressed his thanks to the 3,200 people who took the time to complete the recent online survey of primary producers which sought to inform the UTP Enforcement Authority (EA) about any UTP-related issues farmers and fishers are facing and whether the buyers that they supply are treating them fairly and lawfully in compliance with the UTP Regulations.
The high-level survey findings will be presented at the Enforcement Authority’s seminar to mark the first anniversary of the signing of the UTP Regulations by the Minister to be held on 5th May. Further information including event registration details will be published shortly on [external-link www.utp.gov.ie. | www.utp.gov.ie. ]
Note for editors
The Minister signed S.I. No. 198/2021 – European Union (Unfair Trading Practices in the agricultural and food supply chain) Regulations 2021 (irishstatutebook.ie on April 28th 2021.
These Regulations gave effect to the provisions of The Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 in relation to business-to-business relationships in the agriculture and food supply chain
The Regulations prohibit 16 unfair trading practices (UTPs) – 10 (black) UTPs which are prohibited in all circumstances and a further 6 (grey) UTPs which are prohibited unless the parties agree clearly and unambiguously beforehand. These are outlined in a UTP summary Leaflet DL Final.pdf (utp.gov.ie) and listed below.
10 Black UTPs (prohibited in all circumstances):
1. Payment later than 30 days for perishable agricultural and food products
2. Payment later than 60 days for other agricultural and food products
3. Short-notice cancellations of perishable agricultural and food products
4. Unilateral contract changes by the buyer
5. Payment not related to a specific transaction
6. Risk of loss and deterioration transferred to the supplier
7. Refusal of written confirmation of a supply agreement by the buyer, despite request of the supplier
8. Misuse of trade secrets by the buyer
9. Commercial retaliation by the buyer
10. Transferring the costs of examining customer complaints to the supplier
Grey UTPs (prohibited unless the parties agree clearly and unambiguously beforehand):
1. The buyer returns unsold products to the supplier without paying for those unsold products
2. Payment by the supplier for stocking, display and listing
3. Payment by the supplier for promotion
4. Payment by the supplier for marketing
5. Payment by the supplier for advertising
6. Payment by the supplier for staff of the buyer, fitting out premises
The Regulations afford protection for any supplier of agricultural and food products with a turnover of up to €350 million subject to the supplier’s turnover being lower than the buyer’s turnover within stated categories. The Regulations provide protection for five graduated levels of supplier turnover categories relative to the buyer up to the €350 million turnover limit.
Under the Regulations, a supplier is defined as an agricultural producer or any natural or legal person who sells agricultural and food products. A buyer is defined as any natural or legal person or any public authority who buys agricultural and food products. The Regulations apply only to business-to-business relationships and do not cover sales to consumers.
The UTP Regulations have been applicable since 1st July 2021 to new supply agreements established since 28th April 2021 and, from 28th April 2022, all supply agreements, including those that were in place before 28th April 2021, must be in compliance with the Regulations.
The Enforcement Authority has established a dedicated website – [external-link www.utp.gov.ie. | www.utp.gov.ie. ] – which contains useful resource materials, including specific actions that buyers should take to ensure compliance, contact details and an online complaints submission form where suppliers can submit a complaint in confidence to the Authority.
An online survey of primary food producers on trading practices in the agri-food supply chain was open from 28th February until 15th March. The online survey coincided with a targeted phone survey of supplier businesses that operate downstream of farmers and fishers. The survey replies are being analysed by a professional market research agency who conducted the surveys on behalf of the Enforcement Authority. The high-level survey findings will be presented at an event on 5th May to mark the first anniversary of the signing of the UTP Regulations by Minister McConalogue and to outline the work undertaken by the Enforcement Authority since its establishment.
The General Scheme of a Bill to establish a new independent statutory Authority to be known as the ‘Office for Fairness and Transparency in the Agri-Food Supply Chain’ was approved by Government on 22 March 2022.
With regard to the Unfair Trading Practices Directive, currently enforced by the UTP Enforcement Authority in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Minister McConalogue’s intention is to repeal the current UTP Regulations and to use the enabling provisions in the Bill to provide for the transfer of responsibility for UTP enforcement functions from his Department to the remit of the new Office. This is expected to occur at the time of commencement of the Act. General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022
ENDS
Stay up-to date with the latest news and campaigns