Ahead of the establishment of the National Food Ombudsman's Office later this year, farmers, fishers, and food producers can already avail of formalised protections from unfair trading practices according to the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine.
Under EU Unfair trading regulations in the agricultural and food supply chain, in force in this country since last July, there are ten practices, dubbed Black UTP practices, that are prohibited:
- Payment later than 30 days for perishable agricultural and food products
- Payment later than 60 days for other agricultural and food products
- Short-notice cancellations of perishable agricultural and food products
- Unilateral contract changes by the buyer
- Payment not related to a specific transaction
- Risk of loss and deterioration transferred to the supplier
- Refusal of written confirmation of a supply agreement by the buyer, despite request of the supplier
- Misuse of trade secrets by the buyer
- Commercial retaliation by the buyer
- Transferring the costs of examining customer complaints to the supplier
A producer who feels they have been victim of any of these practices can make a complaint to the Unfair Trading Practices Enforcement Authority who may initiate an investigation and issue compliance orders requiring corrective action.
To date no complaints have been received by the authority.
Six other "Grey" UTP practices are also prohibited unless they are agreed upon between food producers and buyers. They are:
- The buyer returns unsold products to the supplier without paying for those unsold products
- Payment by the supplier for stocking, display and listing
- Payment by the supplier for promotion
- Payment by the supplier for marketing
- Payment by the supplier for advertising
- Payment by the supplier for staff of the buyer, fitting out premises
As part of the effort to increase awareness of the UTP Enforcement Authority's presence, the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue today invited farmers and fishers to complete a survey about any unfair trading practice issues they are facing within the food supply chain.
Minister McConalogue has also been writing to large retailers and buyers of agricultural produce to inform them of the regulations.
The survey for farmers and fishers can be completed at UTP: Unfair Trading Practices Enforcement Authority and will remain open until 15 March 2022.
When the National Food Ombudsman Office is established, it will take over the powers of the UTP Enforcement Authority.
