The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., today reminded business-to-business buyers across the agricultural and food supply chain of their legal obligations under the Unfair Trading Practice (UTP) Regulations. Under the Regulations, all supply agreements for agri-food products must fully comply with the provisions of the UTP Regulations from 28th April 2022.
The Minister said: “On 28th April last year, I signed into law the Unfair Trading Practices Regulations. Under these Regulations, buyers have had a year long lead-in period to ensure that their pre-existing supply agreements for agricultural and food products are brought into full compliance with the provisions of the UTP Regulations. I have issued frequent reminders over the last number of months on the need for buyers to be aware of this fact.
Let me be very clear. Buyers must use the next month to ensure that they have taken appropriate action to ensure full compliance with the Regulations. The UTP Enforcement Authority remains available to assist buyers with any queries they may have to help them understand their obligations under the Regulations. The Authority will be following up any non-compliance matters brought to its attention by impacted suppliers.”
The Minister also expressed his thanks to the 3,200 people who took the time to complete the recent online survey of primary producers which sought to inform the UTP Enforcement Authority (EA) about any UTP-related issues farmers and fishers are facing and whether the buyers that they supply are treating them fairly and lawfully in compliance with the UTP Regulations.
The high-level survey findings will be presented at the Enforcement Authority’s seminar to mark the first anniversary of the signing of the UTP Regulations by the Minister to be held on 5th May. Further information including event registration details will be published shortly on www.utp.gov.ie.
