President Vladimir Putin has approved amendments to the law "On the Fundamentals of State Regulation of Trading Activities in the Russian Federation," which prohibit collecting fines from food producers if they fail to fulfill retail chains' orders for deliveries exceeding the volume and schedule previously agreed upon by the parties. The document has been published on the official legal portal.
Previously, there was no transparent planning mechanism for product deliveries to retail chains. They could, without warning, request a larger volume from a supplier, and if the manufacturer did not ship the products, the store would impose a fine. Now, the law stipulates that retail chains and their suppliers are prohibited from including in contracts conditions regarding liability "for the full or partial non-delivery of food products to retail chains in a quantity exceeding the quantity agreed upon by the parties." The law comes into force on September 1st, to allow market participants to bring their contracts into compliance with it, with a transitional period established until March 1, 2026.
Earlier, the parliament adopted a bill developed with the participation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. According to the regulator, the innovations are designed to solve the problem of imposing orders without confirmation (such situations, in particular, arise due to errors in demand forecasting by retail) and related penalties, which, according to the FAS, burdened manufacturers and ultimately consumers, Izvestia previously wrote.
Executive Director of the association "Rusprodsoyuz» Dmitry Vostrikov told the publication that in order not to receive a fine, a supplier is obliged to supply any volume of goods requested by the chain, even if it concerns an annual volume, regardless of whether he confirmed the order received from the chain or not. At the same time, for some chains, fines can exceed the average profitability in the food industry, which leads to abuses by chains that use this practice to gain additional profit, he noted.
Stanislav Bogdanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retail Trade Companies, believes that the main advantage of the adopted law is that it reduces the risks of supply disruptions, contributing to a shift away from one-off spot deals and an increase in the share of long-term contracts, which are necessary to ensure price and physical stability of supplies in the food market, Izvestia quoted him as saying.
Previously, there was no transparent planning mechanism for product deliveries to retail chains. They could, without warning, request a larger volume from a supplier, and if the manufacturer did not ship the products, the store would impose a fine. Now, the law stipulates that retail chains and their suppliers are prohibited from including in contracts conditions regarding liability "for the full or partial non-delivery of food products to retail chains in a quantity exceeding the quantity agreed upon by the parties." The law comes into force on September 1st, to allow market participants to bring their contracts into compliance with it, with a transitional period established until March 1, 2026.
Earlier, the parliament adopted a bill developed with the participation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. According to the regulator, the innovations are designed to solve the problem of imposing orders without confirmation (such situations, in particular, arise due to errors in demand forecasting by retail) and related penalties, which, according to the FAS, burdened manufacturers and ultimately consumers, Izvestia previously wrote.
Executive Director of the association "Rusprodsoyuz» Dmitry Vostrikov told the publication that in order not to receive a fine, a supplier is obliged to supply any volume of goods requested by the chain, even if it concerns an annual volume, regardless of whether he confirmed the order received from the chain or not. At the same time, for some chains, fines can exceed the average profitability in the food industry, which leads to abuses by chains that use this practice to gain additional profit, he noted.
Stanislav Bogdanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retail Trade Companies, believes that the main advantage of the adopted law is that it reduces the risks of supply disruptions, contributing to a shift away from one-off spot deals and an increase in the share of long-term contracts, which are necessary to ensure price and physical stability of supplies in the food market, Izvestia quoted him as saying.