In view of ongoing Trilogue negotiations, FoodServiceEurope urges negotiators to consider the specificities of the contact catering sector and its unique position in the food supply chain. The contract catering industry supports the fostering of fair contractual relations amongst all actors in the supply chain as essential to provide high-quality, safe, and affordable food to consumers. However, initiatives at EU level must remain balanced and proportionate to achieve the overall objective of the proposal, that is, to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain. We thus call EU institutions to incorporate the following elements in the final text:

• Where the buyer is operating a social food service, operators in the food supply chain should retain the possibility to agree on longer payment terms. An amendment to this effect needs to be introduced in the legislative text and a proposal is included in the attached.

• FoodServiceEurope strongly supports the explicit inclusion of public authorities within the text of the Directive, as intended in the AGRI report. However, a more general reference to public authorities being covered is needed to avoid misunderstandings.

• We very much welcome the clearer definition of perishable agricultural and food products being put forward by both the European Parliament and the Council and we urge negotiators to maintain such amendments and ensure the definition is unambiguous and clear.

Additional details are provided  in the attached position paper.