Although certain deficiencies in setting the price of contracts still persist in the wine chain – especially at the beginning of the campaigns – in recent years there has been an improvement in terms of the formalization of contracts and in the payment terms between the different operators in the wine sector.
This has been detected by the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) which, before the harvest begins, warns that it is an excellent opportunity to continue advancing and encourages operators to detect breaches of the Chain Law to make the corresponding complaints.
The AICA, an organization whose mission is to ensure the commercial relations and interests of the different operators that intervene in the food chain, in addition to controlling compliance with the chain’s law, has carried out since 2015 almost a thousand controls in the sector viticulture, specifically 656 inspections of winegrowers and the sales they make to winemakers, and another 275 in wineries to analyze both purchases from their suppliers and sales to their customers.
Contracts and payment terms in the wine sector
And one of the consequences of these controls is the continuous process of improvement in contracting, although certain deficiencies in the setting of the price of contracts still persist in the wine chain, especially in the initial moments of the campaigns. For this reason, before the imminent start of the harvest, he appeals to the sector and reminds that, according to the Food Chain Law, it is mandatory to formalize a written contract before the delivery of the wine grapes and that the winegrower knows in advance the price, which must be paid within a maximum period of one month from the delivery date.
In this sense, the AICA recalls that “not formalizing contracts and paying after the deadline is a serious violation of the Food Chain Law” and that, in addition, since the introduction last year of the reform measures of this regulation , “The sales prices in the first link cannot be below the production costs”.
Summary
Qualification
Improves contract execution and payment terms in the wine sector
Description
Although certain deficiencies in the setting of the price of contracts still persist in the wine chain, in recent seasons there has been an improvement in the formalization of contracts and in the payment terms between the different operators in the sector.
Author
Gastronomy Journal