What the law contains to rebalance the balance of power between manufacturers and mass distribution, adopted by Parliament

Small revolution in the retail sector. The bill strengthening manufacturers in their tense negotiations with large retailers was definitively adopted on Wednesday March 22 by Parliament. After the Senate on Tuesday, the National Assembly unanimously validated (117 votes, none against) a series of measures aimed at tackling the “structural imbalance” between suppliers on the one hand, and big buyers like Leclerc, Carrefour or Intermarché on the other. Here are the main points of this text, carried by the Renaissance deputy Frédéric Descrozaille.

More power to manufacturers in the event of disagreement on prices

The text notably dissipates the “legal vagueness” existing in the event of failure of the annual commercial negotiation, scheduled from December to March for the products which fill the shelves.

Currently, if suppliers and distributors do not agree, their contract is not interrupted. A favorable situation for supermarkets, which can continue for several months to order products at the old price, even though the supplier may be faced with an increase in its production costs.

The text provides, in the event of failure of the negotiation, and on an experimental basis, that the supplier can interrupt its deliveries if it considers the price paid too low during the notice period for breach of contract.

The experiment on the “threshold of resale at a loss” extended until 2025

The agreement sealed in the Joint Joint Committee (CMP) also extends until 2025 (and not 2026, as initially planned) the experiment of the supervision of the “threshold of resale at a loss” for food products, which reached due in April.

This measure, adopted within the framework of the Egalim 1 law and supposed to protect the income of farmers, obliges supermarkets to sell food products at least 10% more expensive than the price at which they bought them. Fresh fruits and vegetables, initially concerned, were excluded as the text was examined. The consumer association UFC-Que Choisir claimed for its part its “immediate deletion”to ease the burden of inflation.

Promotions on non-food products capped

In addition, “shock” promotions on non-food products will now be capped at 34% reduction. A judged measure “irresponsible and inflationary” by the employers’ federation of large retailers. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, had also shown himself unfavorable to this measure, wishing that distributors could “make promotions not just at 34% on shampoos, hygiene products, detergent products but up to 50%”.