Target Group
All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. In particular, contributions are sought from:
- farmers
- processors
- distributors
- wholesalers
- retailers
- business organisations (including associations, chambers of commerce, etc.)
- consumers and their representative organisations
- non-governmental and civil society organisations
- research institutions/think tanks
- independent experts
- law firms
- trade unions
- national public authorities
- other public institutions
Objective of the consultation
There are about 11 million farms in the European Union (EU) and 44 million people are employed in the entire EU food supply chain. Farmers are important strategic and economic players in the food supply chain.
The common agricultural policy (CAP) has over time become more market-oriented and less reliant on the management of markets. In addition, European agriculture and the agri-food sector are increasingly integrated in global markets.
This has created important business opportunities, but also exposed farmers to greater market uncertainties and increased price volatility. Farmers often work independently of each other, and there is little in the way of collective bargaining power to help farmers defend their interests against other parts of the food chain, such as food processors and retailers. The Agricultural Markets Task Force (AMTF) set up by Commissioner Hogan proposed a number of concrete ways to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain.
The European Commission will take forward this work, consulting the public regarding three areas relating to farmers’ position in the food supply chain:
- unfair trading practices (UTPs)
- market transparency and
- producer cooperation.
The input received from this consultation will complement the work on the simplification and modernisation of the CAP. The measures looked into under the initiative to improve the food supply chain would have, if adopted, relatively little impact on the EU budget as they would mainly relate to governance rules of the supply chain.
The consultation process will result in an impact assessment and complement the work on the future of the common agricultural policy. More information in the consultation strategy document.
How to submit your response
Responses must be submitted via the online questionnaire. Please note that in order to ensure a fair and transparent consultation process only responses received through the online questionnaire will be taken into account and included in the report summarising the responses.
The questionnaire is currently available in English only, but will be available in all official EU languages by 25 August. Contributions may be submitted in any official EU language.
All contributions will be published on the website of the European Commission, subject to data protection rules and the restrictions applicable to organisations.
In the interest of transparency, the Commission asks organisations that wish to submit comments in the context of public consultations to provide the Commission and the public at large with information about whom and what they represent by registering in the Transparency Register and subscribing to its Code of Conduct . If an organisation decides not to provide this information, it is the Commission's stated policy to list the contribution as part of the individual contributions (Consultation Standards, see COM (2002) 704 , and Communication on ETI Follow-up, see COM (2007) 127 of 21/03/2007 ).
If you are a registered organisation, please indicate your Register ID number in the Transparency Register when replying to the online questionnaire. Your contribution will then be considered as representative of the views of your organisation.
If your organisation is not registered, you have the opportunity to REGISTER NOW. Then you can return to this page and submit your contribution as a registered organisation.
The questionnaire will be available until 17 November 2017.
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