The “Fairness Office”, an ombudsman to support farmers in the fight once morest unfair trading practices, received 235 reports in 2023. In 2022, in its first year of existence, there were 21 complaints. Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig described the food trade as a fight with unequal weapons. More than 100,000 rural producers and processors are “at the mercy of a few large chains.” A central complaint topic was the problem with own brands: suppliers who present their new products are pressured by retailers to deliver them as own brand products. Suppliers who do not accept this are sometimes threatened with delisting.
According to Johannes Abentung, head of the ombudsman’s office, there are also cases of forced contractual conditions. The enforcement authority for the complaints is the Federal Competition Authority, to which two cases were reported in 2023. Abentung justified the small number with the protection of the complainants, whose identities would have to be disclosed in such a case.
