Matecna: Trade Relations Between Food Suppliers and Merchants to Be Fairer

Bratislava, October 22 (TASR) - Trade relations between food suppliers and merchants will be more just and more balanced, with Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry drawing up a draft law on honest relationships in the food trade that has already been discussed within the interministerial comment phase, TASR learnt on Monday. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Gabriela Matecna (SNS) along with Agriculture Ministry's foods and trade department general director Milan Lapsansky at a press conference unveiled the newly prepared bill, adding that it should enter into force in the spring of 2019. According to Matecna, the draft law should eliminate the hidden fees of the merchants, allow submission of anonymous complaints against unfair business deals, introduce better checks and more severe sanctions as well as shorten the due date for invoices from the current 45 days to 30 with the selected food, including bread and pastries even to 15 days. "Inappropriate terms in business relationships result in misuse of the economic power of one of the parties to the business relationship, mostly at the expense of the supplier. This includes various financial or non-financial obligations of the supplier beyond the set purchase price ... We want to prevent this and create more fair conditions for food suppliers who are often being exploited," said Matecna. The agriculture minister went on to say that misusing the stronger position in a business relationship has a negative impact on the agriculture and food sectors, and it also threatens Slovakia's food sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Customers can eventually also be affected by this trend, as domestic suppliers are often discriminated against in this process. tz/mcs/ko