Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These two amendments essentially propose the same thing, albeit in a different manner. Both propose that where a grocery goods undertaking chooses to enter into a contract with a relevant grocery goods undertaking the latter must have a contract with the former for the supply or sale of goods. I note that there is a difference in the legal framing between the amendments tabled by Deputies Tóibín and Calleary. Deputy Tóibín's seeks to include the provision under the list of activities on which regulations foreseen by the Bill will be drawn up, while Deputy Calleary's proposal seeks to make it obligatory outside of the regulations as a stand-alone measure.

The provisions of the Bill as currently drafted state in section 63B(2)(a) that regulations may specify the form of the contract entered into by the parties. While I do not want to pre-empt what the final regulations will contain, this section is pivotal to ensuring that situations such as unilateral amendments to terms, retrospective change to terms, etc., are covered by the regulations. Without a written contract in place it would appear to be impossible to enforce any regulations on issues such as unilateral amendments to terms or retrospective changes of terms. It is worth noting that the issue of written contracts is a core part of the UK code of practice for this very reason.

As regards the suggestion that grocery goods undertakings could decide not to have a contract, this would have a practical effect in that the grocery goods undertaking would have no protection under the regulations. I am not sure if this is what was intended by the Deputies in their proposal.

Finally, there is always the possibility that the effect of the proposal would be that grocery goods undertakings are coerced into opting out of contracts by relevant grocery goods undertakings. This would leave grocery goods undertakings with no protection under the regulations. For all of the above reasons, I am not convinced that this is a good idea, and thus my initial reaction is that I would not be in a position to accept the amendments proposed. However, I am aware that certain sectors would see this as a major issue and, as such, I am prepared to reflect on this before Report Stage.