Independent Retail Europe

Monthly Bulletin - May/June 2016

Editorial

Dear members,

Life and work in Brussels are very busy at the moment as policy makers want to finish what they can before the summer break. In this regard, there have been new developments in many areas of interest to our membership, such as the Digital Single Market, unfair trading practices, energy labelling, circular economy and food waste. Please find articles on these and other topics below and enjoy reading the current edition of our Monthly Bulletin.

In addition, the unexpected result of the referendum held in the United Kingdom on 23 June, where 52% of the electorate decided for the UK to leave the EU, caused tumult on the European political scene. The European Council as well as the European Parliament are currently holding a series of emergency sessions on the future way forward resulting in other issues being put on hold. It is, however, too early to predict how things will pan out and how this will affect Independent Retail Europe and our work. For now, we will keep the members updated. We express our support to the team of our British member ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) at a time of political uncertainty in the UK.

With kind regards from Brussels,
Else Groen
Director General

Update on the Supply Chain Initiative for Fairer Trading Practices in the Food Supply Chain

The Supply Chain Initiative (SCI) has been heatedly discussed in the European Parliament as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have adopted a resolution which asks for complementary EU legislation. The Initiative continues to be staunchly defended by Independent Retail Europe and other SCI stakeholder organisations in various fora.

Update Digital Single Market Strategy: Publication of new package and Parliament negotiations on contract rules proposal

The European Commission has published on 25 May a package of several legislative proposals as well as guidance and policy direction on a number of issues relating to e-commerce. This constitutes the concrete implementation of the Juncker Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy from May 2015, and dovetails with a proposal on contract rules for online and distance sales aimed at completing the Single Market currently being discussed in the European Parliament.

Mutual recognition consultation in progress

The principle of mutual recognition is a cornerstone of the EU internal market. However, the principle is sometimes ignored or obstructed by national governments, usually for reasons of protectionism. Companies regularly complain that the mutual recognition principle is not sufficiently adhered to across the EU. The deadline to respond to a public consultation on this issue is 30 September 2016 and the consultation can be accessed here.

Energy Efficiency Labelling: Overall positive result in ITRE Committee vote

On 14 June, the European Parliament Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) voted on their amendments to the proposal on Energy Efficiency labelling. The result can be seen as a success as it considerably improves the Commission proposal. However, it now still has to be voted in plenary.

Update circular economy: MEPs call for stricter rules and targets

The Commission proposal for a circular economy published in December 2015 was quite balanced but also rather vague on certain points (see Annual Report 2015). The Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in charge of the EP position on the proposal has now finally published her amendments and calls for much stricter rules potentially adding considerable burdens for retailers. Many MEPs seem to support her views.

Launch of the Food Loss & Waste Standard and of the Commission’s Food Waste Platform

While discussions on the circular package are going on in the European Parliament (article above), a group of organisations recently issued a report proposing a universal standard to measure food waste.

EU/US cooperation on food safety inspections

Food safety is a major issue in the US and the EU. However, resources to ensure food safety diminish every year. This has led authorities to try and be more pragmatic in the enforcement of food safety issues. One area that is particularly resource intensive is inspections. The EU and US are working together to eliminate double inspections of foodstuffs.

An Erasmus Programme for SMEs? The European Commission is looking for input

The European Commission is interested in testing the attractiveness of a scheme which supports staff exchanges between companies (SMEs) across EU Member States and selected third countries. Should you be interested in such an exchange scheme for the retail sector, we suggest you fill out the questionnaire.

Towards healthy and sustainable production and consumption: Publication of Recommendations

On 21 April the European Commission organized a conference in The Hague on healthy and sustainable production and consumption. Click here to find a set of recommendations taking into account elements emerging from the interventions and the debates. All the interventions and documents presented during the conference can be found on the web-page of the event.

Mislabelled fish: MEPs call for strong traceability system

Members of the European Parliament have voiced concern about various studies showing significant levels of mislabelling of fish products sold on the EU market and call on Member States to step up national checks, including on non-processed fish supplied to restaurants and the catering sector, in order to tackle fraud and to identify the stage in the supply chain at which fish is mislabelled.

Board-level changes at Independent Retail Europe members

DER MITTELSTANDSVERBUND has a new president and there was a change in the Executive Board at 3e AG.

Independent Retail Europe public appearances

On Friday 10 June, Ravi Bhatiani participated in a conference and a panel discussion organized by the faculty of law of Oxford University on “Trends in Retail Competition” on a variety of issues such as retailer/supplier relations and e-commerce developments. Representatives of DG GROW and DG COMP, lawyers, academics, supply chain stakeholder organisations and the EU consumer association were present.
On Wednesday 15 June, Else Groen presented and discussed the SCI at a conference on “which way forward on Unfair Trading Practices” organized by the faculty of law of the University of Leuven with the participation of representatives of DG GROW, the European Parliament, the Belgian ministry of economy, Belgian stakeholder organisations as well as expert academics from various Member States.
On Friday 1 July, Else Groen presents and discusses the SCI in her position as its Co-Chair at the International Experts' Conference on „Strengthening of the Farmers´ Position in the Food Supply Chain“ in Bratislava, organized by the Slovakian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Upcoming Conferences

We would like to alert you to upcoming events, which may be of interest to you. Please note that any internal and external events can also be found in the calendar on our website.

Independent Retail Europe Meetings

Board meeting 2016:

Thursday 13 October

General Assembly and Annual Conference dedicated to EU funding for (groups of) independent retailers: 23-24 November in Dublin
Board meetings 2017:

Thursday 16 March
Thursday 8 June
Thursday 26 October

Info Flash and Circulars published in the past weeks

Package of measures published to enable a Digital Single Market (Info Flash 01/16)
For approval by 6 June: Position paper on insolvency (Circular 09/16)
For input by 17 June - Restrictive regulations on retail (Circular 10/16)

Please contact Elisabeth von Reitzenstein in case of any questions (elisabeth.reitzenstein@independentretaileurope.eu or tel.: +32 2 739 60 91).

Please click here for the English, here for the German, and here for the French version of this Monthly Bulletin.