New European Commission Guidelines on Joint Selling of Olive Oil, Beef and Veal, and Arable Crops
The European Commission has adopted new Guidelines on how specific agricultural derogations from EU antitrust rules apply to the sale of certain agricultural products. The Guidelines will help explain to farmers how, if certain conditions are fulfilled, they can jointly sell olive oil, beef and veal, and arable crops in compliance with EU competition rules. The European markets for these three products are worth more than €80 billion annually.
Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner in charge of competition policy, says: “These Guidelines are a manual explaining to farmers how to organise themselves in order to be able to jointly sell olive oil, beef and veal, and arable crops, while still fully respecting EU competition rules. The objective is to ensure that European farmers can work together to remain competitive and benefit from bargaining power towards the buyers.”
The new Guidelines complement the 2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Reform that introduced a number of changes to the rules on how EU farmers can co-operate. The aim of the CAP reform measures is to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of EU farmers and strengthen their bargaining power vis-à-vis buyers, while still preserving a market-oriented approach.
