Andalusia advocates before the EU for legislation that prevents unfair trade practices

The creation of a Price Observatory is proposed

Agriculture contributes its suggestions within the framework of the assessment requested by the European Commission to improve the agri-food chain.

La Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development has moved to the European Commission the need to carry out regulation, at Union level, that makes it possible to address the problem of unfair business practices between operators of different member states. Andalucía considers that legislation at the level of the European Union That it is compatible with existing national legislation would be the most comprehensive approach, but it must be reinforced by a development of the competition specificities of agriculture.

The counselor Rodrigo Sanchez Haro emphasizes that unfair trade practices can occur at all stages of the supply chain, negatively impacting the weakest link in the chain. For this reason, it is necessary to work on the balance of all the agents participating in this process, who must receive fair compensation for their work and effort.

The Board thus responds to the request for assessment that the European Commission has made the member states for the improvement of the agri-food chain. Along with this, the suggestions that Andalusia transfers to the European Union They also refer to cooperation between producers, requesting from the Commission a more ambitious approach with respect to certain sectors, especially in the most perishable products, especially fruits and vegetables.

The petition is aimed at preventing unfair trade practices in the supply chain

La Ministry of Agriculture has also conveyed to the Commission the need to proceed with the creation of a Price Observatory at European Union level that can establish price references, which should result in better functioning of the agri-food chain. The Board considers that it is necessary to know the sales prices of the products not only in the primary phase, but also in other stages of the supply chain, considering cost references also in intermediate links.

These suggestions have recently been transferred to the Commission and are carried out within the framework of the consultation that it requested at the time on the assessment and improvement of the agri-food chain, based on the problems detected by the existence of economic imbalances in trade relations. between the different operators involved and the differences in negotiating power. In this sense, we start from the consideration that the agri-food chain is an area of ​​shared competence between the European Union (EU) and Member States. In the specific area of ​​intervention in this chain, the EU must exercise this competence by developing legislative measures to the extent necessary in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.