Following comments made by EU Commissioner Phil Hogan at the EXPO 2015 in Milan on the food chain, IFA President Eddie Downey has said this must be followed up by determined action by the EU Commission on the inequity in the food supply chain.
Eddie Downey said: “We welcome the regulation that some Member States including Ireland have put in place to address unfair trading practices in the food chain. However, we feel that this is a fragmented approach. We support the co-existence of a legislative and voluntary framework and hope the Commission can lead with legislation at European Union level”.
At the event in Milan which was attended by IFA’s Director of European Affairs Liam MacHale, Commissioner Phil Hogan acknowledged that most of the farming organisations are currently outside of the voluntary Supply Chain Initiative.
However, he hoped that a robust self-regulatory initiative could be agreed to eradicate unfair trading practices. The Commissioner indicated that the Commission will issue a report in the first half of 2016 on unfair trading practices and is working together with Commissioner of Internal Markets Elzbieta Bienkowska in developing this document.
