German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 19/205, p. 25833.
The draft law debated here concerns the agricultural market structure law of 1969. Originally, the law contained 14 provisions. Presently, there are still 11 comprehensive provisions of an extent thoroughly friendly to business and citizens.
Due to EU standards, Germany must now implement into national law by May 1 the UTP guidelines referring to unfair trade practices. The aim of the guidelines is to reduce the financial pressure on farmers and other food producers by means of a stronger regulation of unfair trade practices.The member states can without replacement delete or retain national provisions on unfair trade practices which exceed these guidelines.
The ban on unfair trade practices – itemized in the so-called blacklist of the UTP guidelines – changes nothing in the structural commercial imbalance and the weak negotiating position of agriculture vis-à-vis the food industry and trade. Quite the contrary: The price pressure on German farmers will probably still increase. Since the trade, for which arise greater risks, will compensate by means of still more severe price requirements. The food industry firms will need to engage in this and pass on the price pressure to the end of the chain; namely, to the farmers.
If one wants to strengthen the market position of agricultural operations, the supply must be more strongly bundled to the supply side. This enjoins that agricultural operations must strongly unite themselves with producer organizations. Since only so are they exempted from §1 of the cartel law and are allowed to reach price agreements and price fixing [preisbindungen]. Only so do the agricultural operations have a real chance to negotiate eye to eye.
That alone however will not suffice. For years, German agriculture struggles with continually increasing production costs. It is primarily the fault of ever new administrative impositions. It is plainly and palpably unfair that German farmers must fulfill the highest standards, yet at the same time massive amounts of cheap food can be imported from foreign countries which need not fulfill these standards.
The UTP guidelines foresee that in every member state will be installed an enforcement authority with investigative and sanction competences including money fines. It is to be hoped that this point will be realized by the Federal Institute for Agriculture and Food and that the UTP guidelines for the fruit and vegetable sector and in the dairy, meat and crop sector will be transferred; since only so is possible a sustainable balance of farming with the retail food trade.
We welcome that a hearing will be given to the draft law on February 22. This will facilitate the discussion of drafts in the Agriculture Committee and on the whole provide more clarity.
[trans: tem]
