The Limits of Regulatory Protection Under UTP Directive: Reframing Enforcement to Ensure Compensatory Commercial Justice and Contract Enforcement
摘要
As the European Commission prepares to revisit the Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) Directive considering the 2024 implementation report, this chapter draws attention to a crucial but underexplored aspect of supplier protection: access to compensatory commercial justice and contract enforcement. While the UTP Directive marks significant progress in harmonizing prohibitions against UTPs across Member States, its enforcement framework remains rooted primarily in regulatory oversight. This focus has left agricultural suppliers, especially small and medium-sized ones, without effective mechanisms to seek redress or enforce their contractual rights. By shedding light on this gap, the chapter argues that the European Union’s approach must go beyond deterrence through administrative sanctions and incorporate accessible dispute resolution mechanisms. Such mechanisms can empower suppliers to challenge unfair practices, restore economic balance, and ensure that the protections offered by the UTP Directive can be effectively realized in practice. The chapter offers an overview of the UTP Directive’s background, implementation status, and effectiveness, and draws on the Croatian experience as a case study to illustrate both the promise and limitations of the current enforcement model. It concludes by recommending that Member States and the European Commission explore the development of structured, sector-based dispute resolution mechanisms—such as those administered by trade associations—to complement regulatory oversight and strengthen supplier protections across the European Union.