June 2018. AREFLH Position Paper on the European Commission’s Proposal for a directive on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the food supply chain

AREFLH welcomes the Commission’s initiative, which aims to establish a uniform approach for the introduction of a minimum standard of protection relating to unfair commercial practices in the internal market. 

The prohibition of a series of unfair practices listed in Article 3 represents, in this regard, a clear step in the right direction, as the latter are clearly at odds with the principles of good faith and fair dealing between two parties. However, AREFLH would to make the following comments on a some of the proposal’s provisions that, in our opinion, need to be carefully reassessed:

1. 1. Extending the directive’s provisions to all producer organisations, irrespective of their size
2. 2. Ensuring the directive applies to suppliers/buyers from third countries