Verbond van Belgische Tuinbouwcoöperaties

VBT

VBT represents and defends, both nationally and internationally, the interests of Belgian producer cooperatives in the fruit and vegetable sector.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Revised marketing standards for fresh fruit and vegetables, bananas, nuts, dried fruit and pulses

24 Apr 2023

Delegated regulations - Article 5 point 2: '... the following products shall not be required to conform to the marketing standards within a given production area, including transnational area, as defined by the Member State(s) concerned': Feedback: The transnational areas are important to VBT members, and allow for a smooth cross-border supply of cooperants fruit and vegetables to their cooperative-producers organization. The statement as defined by the Member State(s) concerned implies, according to us, that member states on each side of a border need to agree upon the implementation of transnational areas. If (one of) these concerned member states are not interested and/of have a different view, this part of the article remains without any value in practice. -> Therefore, we request to delete this last part of the sentence ('as defined by the Member State(s) concerned'). - Article 6 - point 4: 'Invoices and accompanying documents ... shall indicate the name and the country of origin of the products and, where appropriate, the class, the variety or commercial type if required in a specific marketing standard, or the fact that it is intended for processing.' Feedback: Invoices might have had an important role in the administrative follow up and especially the traceability of orders in the past, implying the need to have them including all required elements from the marketing standards (origin, class, ). Nowadays, the invoices remain of course important from a financial point of view allowing for the payment of an order/supply. However, their role and value as traceability check has been replaced by much more performant particular (digital) traceability tools. Further, especially in the fresh produce market, invoices might circulate between business partners (long) after the consumption of the concerned produce. -> Therefore, we request to delete this part of the sentence ('Invoices and').
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Meeting with Tom Vandenkendelaere (Member of the European Parliament)

15 Jul 2022 · General introduction