EU Council of Ministers of Agriculture discusses commercial practices
Minister K. Jurgiel at the AGRIFISH meeting
As regards the agricultural issues, the most important point of the debate was the presentation by the European Commission of a proposal for the directive on unfair commercial practices in the food supply chain.
Poland strove for regulating the issues of unfair commercial practices at the EU level. At the same time, they should include, to the greatest possible extent, the solutions already adopted by the Member States, by means of the national legislation. Minister Jurgiel informed that Poland adopted in 2017 the Act on the prohibition to apply unfair practices in the agri-food sector.
"The protection of agricultural producers and small and medium-sized operators from unfair practices applied by stronger buyers is necessary. The smaller economic operators involved in the food supply chain, including farmers, suffer the negative consequences of unfair commercial practices applied by stronger partners", said the Polish Minister.
In the opinion of Minister Jurgiel, the list of unfair practices presented in the proposed directive could be longer. It includes: delayed payments for perishable products, cancellation of orders at the last moment, one-sided amendments to the terms of an agreement or retroactive amendments to these terms and demanding from suppliers to pay for wasted food products.
During the next agenda point, the ministers of agriculture discussed progress made in the area of food waste and food losses.
It was stressed that it was important to develop, at the EU level, a common methodology for gathering data on food waste and to continue the further exchange of experience among the Member States within the framework of the established EU Platform for Food Losses and Waste.
Minister Jurgiel informed that Poland was already taking action to reduce and prevent food waste, inter alia, in the field of education, food distribution for people in need. The legislative work on preventing food waste is currently underway at the Parliament.
At the meeting, Minister Jurgiel also presented the results of the international High-Level Conference on African swine fever, which was held on 26 March in Warsaw and during which the conclusions on research, legislative and information activities and financial assistance had been developed.
In addition, Minister Jurgiel appealed to the European Commission for financial support to the Member States combating ASF.
The European Commission thanked Poland for having organised the Conference and all its participants for having developed both political and operational conclusions, forming a solid basis for further tracking of many significant initiatives aimed at controlling and eradicating the disease. In addition, it summarised all the measures it had taken so far to reduce the spread of ASF. It also pointed to the ongoing work on the review of the EU legislation, which is aimed at, inter alia, further adaptation of the EU rules to the international OIE standards.