The Joint Joint Committee (CMP) on the bill “Balance in commercial relations” reached an agreement on Wednesday, March 15. The parliamentarians chose to retain almost all of the amendments made by the Senate to this text aimed at rebalancing the balance of power between manufacturers and distributors.
The Senate had considerably amplified the ambition of this text by seeking both to preserve industrial investment and innovation in France, to correct the side effects of the 10% increase in the threshold for resale at a loss, to to better protect farmers’ income and to better regulate logistics penalties.
The text resulting from the CMP therefore retains:
- the supervision of promotions on non-food products, noting that “shock promotions” were destroying value for hundreds of French SMEs whose capacity for innovation is no longer to be demonstrated;
- an essential element: the non-negotiability of agricultural raw materials in products sold under private label (private label), so that farmers are not collateral victims of the harshness of negotiations on these products;
- the shortening of the experiment of the SRP+ 10, until 2025, and the exclusion of the fruit and vegetable sector from this supposedly virtuous device but having in fact resulted in a drop in the income of these producers;
- the obligation for distributors to provide the public authorities with precise information on the use made of the additional income they derive from the SRP+ 10 (approximately 600 million euros per year);
- capping the amount of logistics penalties.
Regarding article 3, which deals with the possibility for a supplier to interrupt deliveries in the event of insufficiently remunerative prices, senators and deputies have agreed on a new version. From now on, on an experimental basis, if the annual commercial negotiation has failed, the supplier will have the choice between interrupting deliveries if the price during the notice is deemed too low, or applying a “classic” notice of rupture, which must take into account the conditions economics of the market, a development introduced by the Senate.
For Anne-Catherine Loisier, rapporteur on behalf of the Economic Affairs Committee: “The agreement that we have reached bears witness to the shared observation that the imbalance in the balance of power in trade negotiations leads to inadmissible excesses, which must be corrected. The Parliament is obliged to intervene, not for pleasure, but because the players indulge in a game of “liar poker” which is often to the detriment of consumers, farmers and SMEs. I am delighted that the Senate’s proposals have been adopted. We are thus completing the protection of agricultural income in the negotiations, and we are acting to preserve employment, innovation and investment in our territories.”.
For Sophie Primas, Chair of the Economic Affairs Committee: “Parliament has once once more demonstrated its ability to reach a cross-party consensus in the service of the general interest, far from the side effects and the anathemas launched in public debate. The solutions found are balanced and reconcile the expectations of all parties. The Senate will nevertheless be very attentive to the potential side effects raised by the new experimental device of article 3, both on the possible delisting of intermediate brands and the legal asymmetry introduced..
Philippe PÉJO – Senate Communication Department
01 42 34 35 98 – press(@)senat.fr
