The aid organization Oxfam has published a "toggle list" which is supposed to show unfair contracts between German supermarkets and their suppliers.
Oxfam Germany denounces German supermarkets with a "toggle list".
It reveals anonymised contracts between suppliers and corporations.
The development organization calls for fewer loopholes in EU directives.
Berlin - The development organization Oxfam denounces German supermarkets with a "toggle list".
The allegations: "brazen contractual conditions", "unfair trade practices", "starvation wages" for workers and "great pressure from supermarkets" on suppliers.
This time, the organization underpins the criticism that has been known for years with a list of discount and conditions that are to be used in German food retailing.
"40 selected unfair trading practices" have now been published, which were deliberately collected anonymously.
In the run-up, Oxfam claims to have compiled 100 such supermarket claims, although the names of the supermarkets were not asked to protect the informants.
Interested parties can have the complete list sent to them on request.
With the research, the development workers want to show "how supermarket chains systematically reduce the price of suppliers and force them to pay for costs they incur themselves".
As a result of the supermarket contracts, for example, family farms would have to give up their farms, writes Oxfam.
Oxfam research: excerpts from the "Knebel list"
An example given in the list to lower the purchase price is the so-called open book requirement: With this clause, supermarkets would require the unilateral disclosure of calculations.
If the supplier does this, the respective supermarket uses it against him by claiming that “there is still room”, that individual components of the calculation would not apply in this case or that the supplier could still save something.
Numerous clauses to pass on the entrepreneurial risk should also be anchored in the contracts of the supermarkets: A compensation discount enables, for example, discounts for the supermarkets in the event of poor sales figures.
On the other hand, if a supplier increases his sales with his products from one year to the next, he has to pay a bonus for it.
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According to Oxfam, clauses to support market development are also included in contracts.
A supplier pays a flat rate to help finance the search for a location or the renovation of the supermarkets.
Suppliers are sometimes required to participate in fundraising campaigns.
Retrospective changes in conditions could, for example, shift the depreciation of unsold goods on to suppliers.
Supermarket contracts are important for human rights - this is what Oxfam wants
Oxfam Germany wants to "reveal the system of unfair trading practices" and "make its dimensions clear" with its publications - available here as PDF.
Fair supply relationships are central to real improvements for plantation workers and smallholder producers.
Supermarkets have human rights due diligence, and corresponding contracts are an important prerequisite for respecting human rights abroad.
According to the research, suppliers want the supermarket chains to agree “conditions by mutual consent”, “without exerting pressure or power” and “on an equal footing”.
Both sides should be able to live well with the income, the suppliers tell Oxfam.
"What is missing is a partnership approach to jointly find a way to take into account the needs of both sides."
Oxfam demand: fewer loopholes in EU directive - general ban on unfair practices
According to Oxfam, the reason for the analysis of the discount and condition claims is the implementation of EU Directive 2019/633, which is intended to make delivery relationships in the food trade fairer.
The directive must be transposed into German law by May 1, 2021 - a draft law is currently being discussed in the Bundestag.
"So far, however, there have been many loopholes in order to circumvent the existing bans," says the organization.
A general ban on unjust trade practices could help.
At the same time, Oxfam is calling for the list of prohibited unfair practices to be updated regularly in order to respond to circumvention behavior by supermarket chains.
"Dumping prices should also be banned", for example with an "ombudsman, to which suppliers can anonymously report dumping prices and unfair trading practices".
A price observatory that develops benchmarks for cost-covering and living prices is also part of the demand.
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