The Government has decided to extend to other sectors of activity two prohibitions on commercial practices considered unfair, which until now were applied exclusively to the agri-food sector.
According to Negócios, which cites an official source from the Ministry of Agriculture, the issue concerns the " threat or execution of acts of commercial retaliation against the supplier ," such as limiting purchases from suppliers during the negotiation of supply conditions, and the " illegal acquisition, use, or disclosure of the supplier's trade secrets ."
The expansion of the application of these two prohibitions falls within the scope of transposing into national law the European directive on unfair commercial practices in business-to-business relations in the agricultural and food supply chain, which in Portuguese legislation corresponds to the so-called PIRC (individual restrictive trade practices). In the case of those two prohibitions, the application of the directive will be global, the Ministry of Agriculture explained to Negócios.
Directive
The directive provides for the application of "effective and dissuasive" fines, which can amount to 500 euros in the case of serious offenses, and 2,5 million euros in the case of very serious offenses. " In this context, there has been no change to what already existed ," the same source clarifies.
The supervision of the application of the standards presupposes the creation of one or more responsible authorities, which in the case of Portugal will continue to be ASAE. The application evaluation aspect will be ensured by the Planning and Policy Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, in coordination with the Directorate-General for Economic Activities of the Ministry of Economy and Digital Transition.
According to Negócios, the decree transposing the directive was approved by the Council of Ministers on July 15th and promulgated by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, last week. Its publication in the Official Gazette is imminent, and the measures will come into effect on November 1st.
Prohibitions
The transposition of the directive will broaden existing prohibitions. Regarding payment deadlines, the newspaper Negócios indicates that the legislation will expand the protection of suppliers, even the largest ones. Until now, the law protects micro and small businesses, requiring payment within 30 days for perishable goods and 60 days for other goods. “ Sellers with a lower annual turnover than the buyer will be protected. If the supplier has an annual turnover of less than two million euros, for example, the mandatory payment deadline applies to buyers whose annual turnover exceeds this amount ,” details Negócios.
Among the prohibitions are also those of notifying the cancellation of orders for perishable products less than 30 days before the scheduled delivery date, unilateral changes to contracts regarding issues such as frequency, method, location, schedule or volume, and penalties for supply difficulties that are disproportionate to normal consumption quantities or usual delivery volumes.
