Malta Transposes Directive On Unfair Trading Practices In The Food Supply Chain

On 18 June 2021, the Unfair Trading Practices in the Food Supply Chain Regulations (the "Malta Regulations") finally came into force. The Malta Regulations are meant to transpose the Directive (EU) 2019/633 (the "UTP Directive") just a few weeks after the transposition deadline of 1 May 2021. The Malta Regulations prohibit the use of unfair trading practices in B2B relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain by providing for a so-called "black list" and a "grey list" of such practices and by creating an enforcement mechanism as a remedy for aggrieved parties.

The UTP Directive and the Malta Regulations are meant to be a toolbox to address the significant imbalances in bargaining power which currently exist between suppliers-the party producing and selling its agricultural and food products-and buyers-the party buying agricultural and food products. These imbalances exist as powerful buyers are able to impose certain unfair trading practices or