Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
821. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of measures other EU member states have put in place in the transposition of the European Directive on Unfair Trading Practices; the way they differ to the measures that Ireland has put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10842/22]
View answerEU Directive 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain provides a uniform minimum level of protection to suppliers of agricultural and food products across the European Union and is binding on all Member States.
However, Member States may maintain or introduce national provisions that provide stronger protection than those provided in the Directive, as long as they are compatible with EU law and the functioning of the single market.
The Deputy will be aware that the Programme for Government includes a commitment for a new office of National Food Ombudsman to enforce the Unfair Trading Practices Directive and to have a role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland. I am committed to bringing forward this Office in order to bring much-needed transparency to the sector.
The establishment of the new Office requires primary legislation and, as it was not possible to prepare primary legislation ahead of the transposition deadline for the UTP Directive of 1st May 2021, I took the approach of directly transposing the Directive into Irish law by statutory instrument (SI 198 of 2021) in April of last year.
It was not possible in Irish law to extend the provisions of the Directive through secondary legislation. Consequently, the Directive was transposed as it stands, without changing the Directive provisions. Ireland was one of only seven Member States to transpose the Directive ahead of the deadline. At that time, I also established the UTP Enforcement Authority in my Department on an interim basis pending the finalisation of the primary legislation for the new Office.
In October 2021, the EU Commission published a report on the state of play regarding the transposition and implementation of the UTP Directive, taking into account notifications from Member States received by them by 31st July 2021. The Directive had not been transposed in all Member States at that time.
However, I can advise the Deputy that the report states, inter alia, that:
- Most Member States refer, to some extent, to business size as a criterion for limiting the
scope of application of the adopted legislation or parts of it. Among these, five, including Ireland, adopted the approach set out by the Directive, targeting relationships between suppliers whose annual turnover is lower than a given threshold, and buyers whose annual
turnover is higher than the same threshold. Nine MS have enlarged the scope of
application to varying degrees.
- The Directive requires Member States to prohibit a specific set of unfair practices, splitting them into two groups: (i) unconditional prohibitions (‘black list’) and (ii) conditional prohibitions (‘grey list’), the latter list of practices are prohibited unless agreed in clear and
unambiguous terms upfront in the supply agreement or in a subsequent agreement between the
supplier and the buyer. All Member States referred to in the report have used lists of prohibited practices and most of them, including Ireland, have followed the distinction between ‘black’ and ‘grey’ practices. However, while distinguishing between ‘black’ and ‘grey lists’, a few MS have moved one or more ‘grey list’ practices into the ‘black list’. Relatively more common is adding practices to the ‘black’ and ‘grey’ lists.
- The majority of Member states referred to in the report, including Ireland, include the 30-day period as a minimum standard for cancellation.
- For the Deputy’s information, the report can be found at the following link:
eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0652&from=EN.
Introducing powers to extend the provisions of the Directive is a matter that is being given consideration in the preparation of the primary legislation for the establishment of the new Office of National Food Ombudsman, or equivalent, taking into account submissions made during the public consultation process and stakeholder views and EU law.
The new Office, once established, will also monitor the effects of implementation of the UTP rules.
