Unfair Trading Practices in the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain

The issue of unfair trading practices between businesses in the agricultural and food supply chain has been on the European Union’s policy agenda for a long time. On 17 April 2019, Directive (EU) 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain (‘UTP Directive’) was adopted. The UTP Directive outlaws certain unfair trading practices (‘UTPs’) imposed by stronger buyers on small, medium, and mid-range sized suppliers of agri-food products. The Directive also requires each Member State to designate a (new or existing) public authority which enforces the prohibitions. Member States were required to transpose the Directive by 1 May 2021 and apply it as of 1 November 2021.

On 13 January 2023, Consumer Competition Market organised its Third UTP Roundtable in Leuven, as a follow-up of its First (2016) and Second UTP Roundtables (2018). Based on a questionnaire drafted by Elisa Paredis and Tom Verdonk (PhD researchers at CCM), eminent national experts from the EU-27 critically assessed the implementation of the UTP Directive in their Member State. Due to the Directive’s minimum harmonisation approach, the national regimes of EU Member States in the field of UTPs still diverge significantly. For example, some Member States chose to broaden the scope of application or to expand the list of prohibited UTPs. The enforcement architecture also differs significantly. During the conference, the similarities and differences of the 27 national regimes were examined. A panel debate was held with stakeholders in the agricultural and food supply chain.

This book contains a preface, the questionnaire sent to the 27 national experts, the 27 country reports based on it, and concluding remarks.