The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection monitors the milk market
– We constantly monitor the milk market for unfair use of the contractual advantage of milk processors over farmers. In the issued decision, we identified possible irregularities in the long-term contracts of OSM Koło. I have obliged the cooperative to change its practices, said the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny.
The first of the questioned actions concerned the cooperative's unilateral right to change the price list for the supplied milk. OSM was free to set the price without having to obtain the supplier's consent. At the same time, the farmer had no opportunity to react to unfavorable price changes and still had to perform the contract throughout its validity period.
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Suppliers also did not have the opportunity to independently verify the tests carried out by the cooperative on the delivered milk. Meanwhile, the price received by the farmer depended, among other things, on: on milk quality.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection also raised doubts about the need to return part of the previously paid so-called loyalty bonus by suppliers who changed the recipient and no longer supplied milk to OSM Koło, e.g. by terminating the contract. A clause in the contract formulated in this way could constitute a sanction for terminating cooperation, as well as discourage milk suppliers from looking for another recipient.
OSM in Koło must change the terms of cooperation with suppliers
After the proceedings, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection obliged the District Dairy Cooperative in Koło to change the questioned practices. Suppliers who do not agree to the price list change will be able to terminate the contract with notice. The current price will apply until the contract ends.
The provision obliging suppliers to return the premium if they change the milk purchasing entity will also be removed from the standard contract.
Moreover, farmers who do not agree with the milk quality tests carried out by the cooperative will be able to verify the tests in an accredited laboratory other than the one indicated by the OSM Circle or belonging to it. This will enable a supplier who does not agree with the quality assessment made by the cooperative to have his doubts verified by an independent entity.
The District Dairy Cooperative in Koło will be obliged to submit information on the implementation of the decision.
These are not the only activities of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection currently carried out on the dairy market. Explanatory proceedings are underway against the District Dairy Cooperatives in Radomsko, Głubczyce, Garwolin and Jarocin. Moreover, in 2023, the President of the Office issued a decision regarding the Mlekpol Dairy Cooperative.
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