The new regulations, published by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton on Monday, state that contracts for the supply of food and drink must be in writing and cannot be varied or terminated except with the express consent of both parties.

Retailers or wholesalers must pay for those goods within 30 days and suppliers can require them to provide forecast of the goods that will be needed. The new regulations will prohibit marketing charges – except where under contract.

IFA national chair Jer Bergin acknowledged the signing of the grocery regulations into law by Minister Bruton, but said the effectiveness of the regulations will depend on robust monitoring and oversight by the CCPC.

“We have waited the lifetime of this Government to have this initial set of regulations signed into law. They contain important safeguards for suppliers, including the prohibition on a requirement to pay for promotion, contracts in writing and payment within 30 days.

“However, the absence of a ban on below-cost selling is a serious weakness,” he said.

Litmus test

Once these new regulations take effect, Bergin said that the litmus test will be how the CCPC uses its substantial powers to enforce compliance.

“Last week’s report from the retail ombudsman in the UK shows the importance of independent and effective investigative powers. The appointment of a retail ombudsman in Ireland, who can take up complaints and grievances of suppliers over mistreatment by retailers, remains a key objective of the IFA,” he said.

Referring to the European Commission’s report on unfair business-to-business trading practices in the food supply chain published last Friday, Bergin expressed huge disappointment with the direction of the report, which fails to deal head on with unfair practices in the chain.

“The report is clearly at odds with the strongly held views of the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan in relation to fairness in the food chain and his call for EU legislations.

“The voluntary Supply Chain Initiative (SCI) undertaken by the Commission is clearly not working for primary producers. If this continues unchecked, retail power and big business will destroy the Irish and European family farm structure and undermine food security for the EU’s 500 million consumers. Strong legislation is needed at European level to address this issue,” the IFA chair concluded.

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New grocery regulations tighten rules on payment terms and marketing charges