Transition to selective regulation of retail trade in Ukraine on the basis of EU experience

Abstract

The article analyzes the causes and consequences of the rapid development of retail trade networks. It is shown that this contributed to increased production efficiency, while retail chains gained market power and began to play a key role in the supply chains of many consumer goods. This allows them to redistribute in their favor part of the value added created in other sectors. For this purpose, they use unfair trading practices: unjustified delays in payments for delivered products, imposing services that do not add value to suppliers, transferring commercial risks to them, etc. The system of regulation of retail trade in European countries has been studied. Differences in the regulation of this sector in 13 countries were analyzed based on the data of the Retail Restrictiveness Indicator. It is shown that the strictest restrictions are enforced in Belarus and in Italy. The regulatory regime in the Baltic states is the most liberal. The authors argue that in the EU countries there is a tendency to move to selective regulation of retail trade, whose object primarily includes "discontinuities" in commodity and financial flows in the systems of vertically adjacent commodity markets. Selective regulation does not limit the operation of market mechanisms, but, on the contrary, promotes their more efficient functioning, eliminating market failures without a significant regulatory burden on business. On the one hand, restrictions on the opening of large-format stores, on trade at reduced prices, etc., are considerably eased. On the other hand, regulation is introduced in certain areas where it was not implemented before. Clarified changes in the regulatory system of retail trade in the EU after adoption of Directive 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain. The authors substantiate the necessity and ways of transition to selective regulation of retail trade in Ukraine. It is shown that the prohibition of unfair trading practices in the food supply chain is much more important in Ukraine than in EU countries. The need to implement the norms of EU Directive 2019/633 into domestic legislation by adopting the Draft Law "On protection against unfair trading practices in relations between business entities in the field of supply of agricultural and food products" has been justified.