Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, has announced new regulations granting enhanced powers to the Agri-Food Regulator, reinforcing a key commitment under the Programme for Government to improve transparency and fairness across the agri-food supply chain. Established in December 2023 under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Act 2023, the Regulator has a dual statutory role: enforcing legislation on unfair trading practices and carrying out price and market analysis to ensure greater equity and transparency throughout the sector. Since its inception, the Regulator has been pivotal in protecting stakeholders and enforcing unfair trading practice legislation to high standards.
The new regulations will empower the Regulator to compel the provision of price and market information from businesses that fail to provide it voluntarily. Minister Heydon highlighted that these powers are proportionate and designed to enable the Regulator to deliver meaningful analysis of the agri-food sector, while considering any potential effects on competitiveness or market distortion. These enhanced powers apply solely to the Regulator’s market analysis function and are distinct from its enforcement responsibilities related to unfair trading practices.
In defining the scope of the regulations, Minister Heydon clarified that small businesses—those employing fewer than 50 people with annual turnover or balance sheets not exceeding €10 million—are exempt to minimize administrative burdens. Additionally, the Regulator may not compel data for a single product from any business more than once within a 12-month period. These measures ensure proportionality and prevent unnecessary strain on smaller enterprises while maintaining robust data collection for sector analysis.
The regulations are set to take effect on 31 December 2026, providing the Regulator sufficient time to develop systems and processes for implementing the new powers. In the meantime, the Regulator will continue its market analysis using publicly available data and information provided voluntarily by businesses. Minister Heydon emphasized that the enhanced powers followed a comprehensive consultative and legislative process, engaging farm bodies, industry and retail representatives, government departments, state agencies, and the Regulator itself to ensure the measures were balanced and proportionate.
The overarching goal of these regulations is to strengthen transparency in the agri-food supply chain and improve the position of smaller suppliers who often negotiate with larger buyers with greater market power. By enabling the Regulator to access critical pricing and market data, the regulations aim to deliver more accurate, insightful analysis, enhancing fairness and competitiveness throughout the sector. These measures complement the Regulator’s ongoing functions, including monitoring prices, margins, financial data, throughput of agricultural produce, policy and procedural information, and employment details, while ensuring that published analyses take into account potential competitive impacts.
