The European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) has approved, almost unanimously, new rules to combat unfair cross-border trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain. These rules were proposed by the European Commission in December 2024 and adopted by the Council's Special Committee on Agriculture in April 2025.The regulation aims to improve cooperation between national authorities responsible for enforcing the EU ban on unfair trading practices by increasing and making mandatory the exchange of information, investigations, and the collection of penalties.
To strengthen farmers' protection, MEPs are calling on member states to intervene ex officio, blocking unfair cross-border trading practices on their own initiative without any formal complaint from producers.
This system would replicate that provided for by the regime for the protection of Geographical Indications in the Single Market.
The proposals of the AGRI Commission
The proposal voted on by the members of the Agriculture Committee introduces three new provisions compared to the Commission's.1 – More transparency thanks to an early warning system
MEPs want to improve the Commission's proposed early warning system for unfair trading practices that may occur in two or more countries. Contact points designated by the relevant national authorities and the Commission should create a permanent information network that would automatically and immediately inform all members of suspected unfair trading practices in other countries.
2 – Rules extended to suppliers and purchasing alliances outside the EU
To prevent operators from circumventing the law by moving their headquarters outside the EU, MEPs want to extend the rules to protect producers who are victims of unfair trading practices by buyers from third countries. At the same time, all buyers based outside the EU will have to designate an "EU responsible person" before being able to purchase their agricultural and food products in the EU. This person would be subject to sanctions if the seller violates the rules , MEPs propose.
3 – Extended legal framework for cooperation between authorities
MEPs want to ensure that, in cases where member states have decided to ban more unfair trading practices than those prohibited by current EU law, enforcement authorities have the possibility to apply, by mutual agreement, the new rules on mutual cooperation.
Next steps
The green light from the plenary session, scheduled for September 2025, will be crucial, as it will begin negotiations with the Commission and Council. MEPs on the Agriculture Committee have also decided to begin discussions with EU countries on the final version of the legislation.The goal is to complete the legislative process by the end of 2025 to ensure fair remuneration for farmers' work and the value of their products, meeting the expectations of millions of European citizens. (Source: https://www.ruminantia.it/ )