Romania Competition Council Approves Good Practices Guide

The Council said it would continue to monitor the food sector, as well as the enforcement of the stipulations included in the Guide, stressing it will step in if rules are breached.

The Council urged both retailers and producers to make sure the enforcement of the stipulations included in the Guide will not trigger excessive transparency in their commercial relations.

Following talks mediated by agriculture minister Dacian Ciolos, retailers and producers signed early June the Guide of Good Practices regulating trade with agri-food products.

The Guide was signed by the representatives of retailers Metro Cash&Carry, real – Hypermarket, Cora, Selgros Cash&Carry, Carrefour, Auchan and Kaufland, and by the representatives of employers’ associations in the food industry, namely, Romalimenta, the Romanian meat association, the employers’ association in the milk industry, the national employers’ association in the wine and vineyard industry, Rompan owners’ association in the milling and bakery industry, the Romanian employers’ association in the pork industry and the national union of poultry breeders.

The guide refers, among others, to ways of establishing the sale price, which is negotiable and depends on the advantages offered to the retailer (discounts, bonuses) and the costs of the services provided by the retailer and invoiced onto the producer.

The Guide also stipulates that retailers are not allowed to compel producers to pay part of the costs with the marketing process, as well as with opening or upgrading stores, or to ban them from selling their products to other retailers at a lower price. Moreover, producers are banned from imposing any conditions on the retailer as to keeping a certain shelf price.

Talks on the guide came after producers claimed abuse by retailers.