In December 2016, the Council in its conclusions of 12 December 2016 on strengthening farmers’ position in the food supply chain and tackling unfair trading practices called on the Commission to address the issue of lack of transparency and information asymmetry in the food supply chain.

Furthermore, in January 2016, the Commission set up the Agricultural Markets Task Force, an independent expert group, to provide recommendations on how to enhance the position of producers in the agricultural and food supply chain. To that end, it recommended to increase market transparency to foster effective conditions of competition along the chain by introducing or enhancing existing price reporting especially in the meat, fruit and vegetables and dairy sectors. It also recommended the collected data be disseminated in a duly aggregated manner.

An open public consultation was carried out in 2017 and specific questionnaires were addressed to Member States, stakeholders and consumers in 2018. Several dedicated workshops and conferences with stakeholders and meetings of Member States’ expert groups and civil dialogue groups on market transparency were organised in 2018 and 2019.

Notification of price, production and market information from Member States is already obligatory under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185, but only in relation to production prices.

Therefore, whilst on the one hand the Union is currently providing a relatively high level of public information on producer prices and consumer prices, stemming from statistical offices in Member States, on the other hand very little information on the prices along the agricultural and food supply chain is available to the public. An extension of price reporting should address these information gaps, in particular where sectoral food supply chains are complex. Monitoring price transmission along the chain by extending data collection and dissemination should enable market actors to have a better understanding of the functioning of the supply chain, thereby improving its overall functioning and economic efficiency, in particular for weaker operators who do not have readily access to private price information.

The prices currently reported represent production selling prices of operators at the first stage of the agricultural and food supply chain. Monitoring price transmission along the chain will require collecting price data from different operators along the chain (for example wholesalers, traders, food industry, and retailers) in particular for supply chains with highly differentiated stages and products.

Reporting only representative prices (such as prices from main markets and significant operators) should enable Member States to pursue a cost-effective approach for their reporting and contribute to keeping the administrative burden for small and medium-sized enterprises to a minimum. In line with current practices, Member States should describe the methodology for setting representative prices. They should also aim at approximating their methodologies to ensure the best possible comparability of the data across Member States.

In order to offer a time- and cost-effective reporting mechanism, the Commission should make the existing information system available for operators so as to allow operators to notify information directly to the Commission, under the supervision of Member States. Member States should inform the Commission if they delegate this obligation to notify the information to operators.

The Commission should organise regular meetings with Member States and stakeholders to share best practices, develop synergies and contribute to a common understanding of market dynamics in the agricultural and food supply chain. The Commission should also provide information to the Member States and stakeholders on the application of the Regulation.

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 should therefore be amended accordingly.

It is appropriate to provide for a date of application of this Regulation that would give Member States the possibility to adapt to the new reporting obligations.

The Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by its Chair,