Three consumer associations have criticized the “anti-inflationary room” commercial operation, which “in no case” will translate into “the most competitive prices possible” for not having suspended a legal provision that forced supermarkets to maintain a 10% margin on food products, according to a letter to the government. The UFC-Que Choisir, Rural Family Housing Framework and Consumption (CLCV), three important consumer associations, wrote an open letter to Elisabeth Borne, being very critical of the so-called “anti-inflationary room” operation, announced this Monday by the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire and the Delegate Minister in particular for Trade Olivia Grégoire.
This operation, which will take effect from March 15 to June 15, consists of allowing large retailers to freely choose a selection of products in which they agree to offer “the lowest possible price” by cutting their margins. However, this expression is not defined by law, which makes the associations say that the government “today is content to rely on the good will of the big retailers to limit their margins (or intends to do so through purely commercial operations ).
Suspend layout “SRP+10”
Guylaine Brohan, president of Rural Families, Alain Bazot, president of UFC-Que Choisir, and Jean-Yves Mano, president of CLCV, suggest instead that the government suspend a provision known as “SRP+10,” which took effect in 2019. This “loss resale threshold” (SRP) framing, its full name, was adopted under the Egalim 1 law, which was supposed to protect farmers’ income. It obliges supermarkets to sell food products at least 10% more than the price at which they bought it.
According to the parliamentary evaluation work, the measure “appears to have only very partially achieved its objective” of increasing the remuneration of agricultural producers. The Senate Economic Affairs Commission estimated in an informative report on trade negotiations and inflation the cost of the measure, for consumers, at 600 million euros. This measure entered into force on an “experimental” basis until April 15, 2023, but a bill approved at first reading in the National Assembly and the Senate, that of the Renaissance deputy Frédéric Descrozaille, plans to renew it.
Source: BFM TV
