On 15 December 2016 the Sejm passed Act on Combating Unfair Use of Contractual Advantage in Trade in Food and Agricultural Products, which will come into force in July 2017.

The Act was intended to “eliminate unfair commercial practices from the agricultural raw materials and foodstuff supply chain.” As it was declared in the statement of reasons for a proposal for this Act the area of commercial activity covered by its provisions “is directly linked to a country’s nutritional safety, which means that there is a social dimension as well.”

Work on this bill – important not only from the point of view of the food and agricultural products sector – initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture – has now thus reached an advanced legislative stage.

The main focus of the Act is banning unfair use of contractual advantage. This concerns contractual relationships between suppliers and buyers of agricultural or food products, which is decisive in determining the sectoral nature of regulations. At the same time, the Act introduces a turnover threshold below which it will not apply.

Powers with regard to enforcement of the ban on unfair use of contractual advantage were passed to the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. In the same way, the Act adapts legal instruments which are administrative in nature, already known in the currently binding Act of 16 February 2007 on Competition and Consumer Protection (text: ISAP).

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