Finnish Commerce Federation: The proposed reform of the Finnish Food Market Act is problematic in many ways
The Finnish Commerce Federation considers the government’s proposal to reform the Finnish Food Market Act problematic. The proposal significantly tightens national regulation that is already stricter than the EU directive, which is in conflict with the Government Programme’s guidelines. In addition, the proposal addresses the free conduct of business and weakens competition and the interests of consumers.
Today, the government has published its proposal for the reform of the Finnish Food Market Act. The government’s proposal contains significant additional national regulation, increases ambiguity and exceptionally addresses the freedom of trade and the free conduct of business. The proposal as a whole is against the interests of consumers, as it weakens competition and increases the costs of companies.
The reform would increase the administrative burden of companies and cause additional costs for companies in the commerce sector. The administrative burden would particularly increase due to increasing reporting and disclosure obligations. This is unreasonable in a situation where the authorities already have jurisdiction to intervene in alleged problems, but these have not been fully utilised and concrete cases of abuse have not been presented.
Particularly worrying is the regulation of private labels, which would intervene in their placement in shops and in marketing. Private labels are a legal and generally accepted practice in all trade sectors and in all EU countries. They increase competition and benefit consumers. In the grocery trade in Finland, the share of private label products is clearly lower than in many other countries in Europe, and a large proportion of them are produced in Finland. The proposed restrictions would weaken trade’s opportunities to compete against international food giants.
The Finnish Food Market Act has been amended several times within a short period of time without any follow-up or overall assessment. The EU is currently reviewing EU-level Unfair Trading Practices legislation, which is expected to lead to changes to the Finnish Food Market Act in 2027.
“In this situation, it is not justified to amend national legislation again. It would be wise to wait for the completion of EU-level regulation and update the Finnish Food Market Act on the basis of it without national additions,” says Kari Luoto, Managing Director of the Finnish Commerce Federation.
For further information, please contact: Kari Luoto, Managing Director, Finnish Commerce Federation
tel. +358 400 688 708, kari.luoto(at)kauppa.fi