BRATISLAVA, March 29, (WEBNOVINY) – Parliament voted on Tuesday to postpone voting on abolishment of the law on inappropriate business relations between retail chains and suppliers of goods, namely foodstuffs adopted in the previous era. Based on the proposal of Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik, the voting on the draft has been postponed until May. The ruling coalition will have to first strike an accord on scrapping the law, as some coalition deputies have openly said they would not support the suggestion.
KDH MPs are among the opponents of the proposal to scrap the law. “I cannot and will not support cancellation of this law,“ said KDH MP Peter Muransky during the parliamentary discussion on the draft adding that inappropriate conditions between suppliers and retail chains exist and should be regulated. Also Muransky’s party mate Mario Radosovsky advocated the need to regulate retail chains. He argued that retail chains organized sales are brainwashing of Slovak consumers.
“Scrapping this law is not a good step. It would be such if it was replaced by another piece of legislation. I do not support its cancellation either,“ said former KDH MP Andrej Durkovsky who now serves as an independent deputy. “Abolition of the law will not change anything and so it would be good to wait until a new regulation stipulating clear rules is submitted. What will we resolve and gain by scrapping this law? I therefore think that it would be right to wait and draw up new legislation,“ added KDH MP Maria Sabolova.
Economy Minister Juraj Miskov opines that this law does not have any effect in practice. “This law is a downright social engineering. It does not contribute to improvement in relations between suppliers and buyers. It failed to improve position of suppliers towards buyers, weaken the position of retail chains, increase the share of Slovak products on shelves of retail chain stores or squeeze food prices down. This law entails the only effect, which is deterioration of the business environment in Slovakia,“ said Miskov.
The minister thinks that KDH deputies should realize that they favored scrapping the law when they supported the government program statement. “Let me remind you, dear coalition partners, that you backed the government program statement, which includes an explicit plan of this government to cancel this bad law. So I dare to ask you to be responsible and support cancellation of this law,“ said Miskov.
The Cabinet approved abolishment of the law on inappropriate conditions in business relations back in January. Parliament passed the law that was to prevent retail chains from abusing their positions towards suppliers under the previous government of Robert Fico. The Ministry of Economy opines that cancellation of the law would eliminate barriers in the business of food supplies and thus improve the business environment and curb the regulatory burden on this business.
SITA