On September 28, the Parliament of Moldova will hold hearings on combating unfair trade practices with the participation of representatives of the largest supermarket chains, small producers and government agencies.
This was announced by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Economy, Budget and Finance, Radu Marian. He recalled that last year parliament approved changes to the Internal Trade Law, prohibiting more than 20 types of unfair trade practices. The amendments were prepared on the model of EU legislation. “We want to see how these provisions are observed in practice and, in general, what are the conditions for manufacturers/suppliers to access the shelves of large chain stores. Under these conditions, the commission that I head will organize public hearings on Thursday, September 28, at 10:00, at which we will hear representatives of the 3 largest supermarket chains in Moldova (retail), representatives of small producers and government institutions,” wrote Radu Marian. As InfoMarket previously reported, at the end of July 2022, the Parliament of Moldova adopted in the second reading a law protecting small producers from unfair commercial practices. In particular, the deputies approved in the second reading the corresponding amendments to the Law on Internal Trade, the Law on Competition and the Code of Contraventions, designed to protect small producers and small and medium-sized enterprises from unfair trade practices and facilitate the placement of their products in the country's commercial networks. As the authors of the bill noted, unfair commercial practices often occur in the food supply chain and can primarily harm small businesses: agricultural producers and small and medium-sized enterprises in the food industry. In this regard, the Internal Trade Law was supplemented with a new chapter “Contractual relations between the supplier and the buyer in the supply of agricultural products and food products,” which regulates in detail the contractual relations between the supplier and the buyer and the terms of payment, and also describes the prohibited unfair commercial practices. It is planned that the proposed changes will facilitate negotiations between suppliers of agricultural and food products and business entities - buyers who offer these products to the end consumer. The Competition Council will have the power to establish, review, enforce prohibitions and punish unfair commercial practices. There will be liability for unfair commercial practices between enterprises in the supply of agricultural products and food products. The Code of Contraventions will stipulate that the use of unfair commercial practices will entail a fine for individuals in the amount of 50 to 100 cu. and for legal entities - from 200 to 400 cu. //27.09.2023 — InfoMarket.
