Moldova will launch till March 1, 2024 the "Made in Moldova" national program to promote domestic products in order to increase the access of small producers to the trade networks.
This was announced by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Economy, Budget and Finance, Radu Marian, who said that this is one of the measures that will be proposed following the public hearings held last week in Parliament on the implementation of the Law on Internal Trade, following the amendments adopted by the Parliament in 2022, concerning the prohibition of unfair trade practices between suppliers and traders. As Radu Marian emphasized, in addition, these hearings, which were attended by small suppliers, representatives of the country's largest supermarket chains, as well as government agencies, found that small producers and suppliers do not file complaints with the Competition Council, citing the risk of reprisals from retailers. In this regard, the Parliamentary Commission on Economy, Budget and Finance initiates an urgent amendment of the current legislative framework to authorize the Competition Council to initiate investigations into unfair commercial practices on its own initiative, without the need to file a complaint/notification, at the moment of suspicion and available operational information on the use of unfair commercial practices in supermarket chains. Also, it is planned to present and adopt a plan to improve the competitiveness of domestic products, as well as to initiate, jointly with the relevant ministry, an analysis of the degree of spreading the practice of applying exaggerated commercial discounts applied by traders to food suppliers. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Economy, Budget and Finance called on the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization to start informing suppliers on how the law can protect them. He emphasized that the Parliament is ready to support any measures in this direction. The most pressing issue raised by suppliers present at the hearing was the application of excessive trade discounts exceeding 40% by some traders, resulting in the said suppliers not making a profit or, worse, selling their products below cost. In their defense, representatives of supermarket chains stated that trade discounts allow them to offer lower prices to the end consumer, and if these trade discounts were restricted, it would have a negative impact on prices. It should be noted that some traders offer more favorable terms than other competitors, at least according to the suppliers interviewed. During the hearing in Parliament, it was stated that the Competition Council, the body responsible for sanctioning unfair commercial practices, has not received any complaints, nor has the Ministry of Economic Development, since the new law came into force in January 2023. "Suppliers say they do not file complaints because they are afraid of losing shelf space in stores, and many of them are probably unaware that they have the right to file such complaints. Thus, I want to encourage economic agents to file complaints if they want government agencies to help them. I remind you that both selling food products below the cost of production and refusing to shelve food products supplied by small and medium-sized enterprises without reason are commercial practices prohibited by law. These, as well as 20 other practices, were prohibited by law and came into force in January this year," Radu Marian wrote on his social media page. // 03.10.2023 - InfoMarket.
