• The President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny initiated proceedings against the Cefetra Polska company.
• The entrepreneur may be unfairly exploiting its contractual advantage.
• Of particular concern are contracts that require farmers to deliver the agreed-upon quantity of grain or rapeseed even in cases where it is impossible irrespective of the farmers' efforts, e.g. due to drought or other force majeure.

Cefetra Polska is part of the BayWa group of companies and is among the leading grain traders in Poland. It sells about a million tonnes of farming products to foreign recipients each year. UOKiK President's reservations concern Cefetra's contracts with farmers delivering grains, rapeseed and legumes.

- The entrepreneur obliges its counterparties to deliver the agreed-upon produce quantities even if the counterparties are unable to do so because of force majeure events or other circumstances outside their control. Therefore, I have initiated proceedings concerning the abuse of contractual advantage by Cefetra Polska. I have already initiated similar proceedings against Polish Agri as well. According to the law, all contracts entered into by large entities must take into account that farming is particularly dependent on the forces of nature, said Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

Companies sourcing products directly from farms should include in their contracts a waiver releasing the farmer from the obligation to deliver part or all of the agreed-upon delivery due to circumstances outside of the farmer's control and impossible to prevent. Such safeguards for farmers are provided for under cultivation contracts, as specified in the Civil Code. Nonetheless, some middlemen deliberately give such contracts different names, e.g. sales, supply or cooperation contracts, forcing the farmers to deliver the agreed-upon quantity of product regardless of the circumstances. Forcing agricultural producers to fully comply with their commitments irrespective of external circumstances is not in line with the nature of such contracts, as it does not take into account the risks associated with farming.

Both parties to such contracts must treat each other honestly and responsibly – the purchasers should make it possible to reduce the scope of deliveries in case of force majeure events, whereas the farmers should only exercise such rights if they are affected by circumstances outside their control.

The penalty for abusing contractual advantage is up to 3 per cent of the annual turnover of the company.

If you are a farmer or entrepreneur operating in the agri-food industry and your large counterparty abuses its contractual advantage by imposing unfavourable terms of cooperation, please do not hesitate to notify UOKiK. We have prepared a special form to help you report any irregularities. Click here to fill it out: https://ankieta.uokik.gov.pl/formularz-zgloszenie-przewaga/.

Additional information for the media:

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