It is forbidden, among other things, to cancel orders for perishable products, as well as to pay for them after 30 days from their delivery – according to the European Union Directive.

On 25th April 2019 the Official Journal of the European Union published Directive 2019/633 of the European Parliament and the Council (EU) of 17 April 2019 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain (the “Directive”). The provisions of the Directive are to be applied only to specific entities, depending on the size ratio of the supplier to the buyer. What is important is the bargaining power of each of them in a given business relationship, and it is to be measured by the annual turnover. First, the annual turnover of the supplier and the buyer needs to be compared. The Directive introduces as many as five levels of turnover of the supplier, in relation to the turnover of the buyer, on which the applicability of the Directive will depend. The protected supplier’s annual turnover is capped at EUR 350 million. However, the minimum annual turnover of the buyer should be at least EUR 2,000,000.00.

For more on this topic, see the article by attorney-at-law Zofia Brylińska – Karpicz in Rzeczpospolita on-line, Dobra Firma weekly, or here.