Euro Commerce: The time is right for a European Retail Action Plan

The Commission has published a package consisting of a communication on a European Retail Action Plan and a Green Paper on unfair trading practices in the supply chains for food and non-food products. 

We expect that an effective and well-executed action plan will help to address the barriers to growth and development that retailers face. Many of these barriers are regulatory, and many are at national level, resulting in unnecessary restrictions to trade. As a result, retail cannot fulfil its full potential to create jobs, wealth, and consumer choice. 

EuroCommerce Director-General, Christian Verschueren said, ‘We commend the European Commission for having recognised the role that retail can play as being part of the solution in these times of crisis. Retail can be an engine of growth and job creation, but for the engine to work, it needs a level playing field where trade can flow smoothly and predictably, where standards of consumer information and protection are harmonised and properly implemented everywhere, where unnecessary and distorting restrictions, taxes, and territorial supply constraints are lifted, where new forms and channels of commerce can flourish on a level-playing field, and where entrepreneurship and innovation are made easy and encouraged. This plan is definitely a step in the righty direction.” 

Like any plan, the success of the Retail Action Plan will lie in its execution. We trust that the Commission will dedicate all its energy to make sure tangible results are achieved. The Retail Action Plan should create a single market for retail, by addressing barriers such as obstacles to establishment, promoting the development of e-commerce and innovation, and reducing the skills gap. ‘Many barriers happen at national level because of discrimination against certain forms of commerce, certain sizes of stores, or because of arbitrary taxes, or because of different and divergent interpretations of EU law.  We trust that the Commission will make work of its zero-tolerance policy on the single market, and use of its moral authority towards Member States to ensure a true single market, 20 years after its supposed completion,” Verschueren added. 

We also welcome the proposal for a Retail Competitiveness Group, which will ensure the process has the impetus and the necessary structure to achieve tangible results that will help our sector deliver better service, better products and better prices for consumers, and for the European economy as a whole.

The Green Paper on business-to-business unfair trading practices in the food and non-food supply chain, however, is disappointing. With a title, some language, and an angle of approach that focuses on unfair trading practices, the consultation creates a stigma on retail. Overlooking the benefits that retail brings to consumers in terms of prices, choice and service through its constant emphasis on efficiency; it invites regulation on the sector as an option. Experience shows that regulation has not been very effective in managing trading relationships; it stiffens trade, entrepreneurship, and competition; it stifles innovation and job creation; it doesn’t solve the issue it was supposed to address. 

Rather than focusing on the negative, EuroCommerce, together with other players in the food supply chain, has chosen to develop a set of good practices and a voluntary framework to implement those. In terms of promoting fairness in business-to-business relationships, this collaborative, voluntary initiative will deliver results faster and more effectively. We ask the Commission to give this self-regulatory initiative a fair chance to succeed and to consider it as a better option in these times of economic recession, low consumer confidence and reduced government budgets. EuroCommerce will present this initiative as the main thrust of its response to the consultation. 

We will use the Green Paper as an opportunity to set the record straight on the value that retail brings to its suppliers, its consumers, and the European economy as a whole. We ask and trust that the European Institutions and stakeholders will opt for an informed, fact-based, approach in this important debate. 

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