Controversial law change in the food trade - is it at the expense of the consumer?

A change in the law is intended to protect small food producers from harsh trade practices - but the drafts sometimes make for gloomy forecasts.

Berlin - It should be a protection for farmers and small food producers, but now the more stringent German implementation of an EU directive is causing heated discussion.

Protest comes mainly from the German trade association, while the manufacturers are in favor of the changes.

At the center of the criticism: A planned change to the so-called Agricultural Market Structure Act.

The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture explains the EU directive with the name UTP, which is to be incorporated into the current law, on its website: “It provides for a ban on the most harmful unfair trading practices in the food supply chain so that farmers are treated more fairly in business relationships . "The adopted protective measures for all food production and processing companies up to an annual turnover of 350 million euros should apply to larger food processing or food retailing companies".

Amendment of the law still in the draft - sharp criticism from the trade association

Among other things, short-term cancellations of orders should no longer be possible, and one-sided changes to quality standards, payment conditions or the conditions for listing, storage and marketing should also be prevented. The final vote on the law in the Bundestag is planned for May 6th, the day before the Agriculture Committee will discuss possible changes. For example, it is not yet certain whether the annual turnover limit is actually 350 million euros, the

speaks of a possible increase to up to four billion euros

With such an increase, large corporations such as Nestlé and Unilever would also receive the planned special rights.

"The law is currently mutating from a protective instrument for small producers to help international corporations," criticized Peter Schröder from the German Trade Association to

he is calling for a new adjustment before the final decision. If this does not take place, Schröder sees the risk of an imbalance that ultimately comes at the expense of the consumer: “Without counterbalancing from the retail sector, large companies will have even more options when it comes to terms and conditions. In the end, the consumer will pay for it ”. According to him, food prices would rise, but he feared a decline in the diversity on the shelves - triggered by the listing clause in the draft law, which is supposed to ban listing fees for “marketed products”.

Draft law in the food trade - manufacturers welcome the planned rules

On the other hand, there has been more positive feedback, for example, from the Federal Association of the German Food Industry: "This is an urgently needed step in the right direction, which must be followed by others," said Deputy Managing Director Peter Feller.

For him, the regulations could be made even more stringent, for example with an expansion of the products concerned.

Both parties are calling for changes to the current draft in different directions - how and when the change in the law, which should have actually taken effect on May 1st, will actually be adopted remains to be seen.

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