Compliance Reporting Buyers

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Compliance Reporting Buyers’ Annual Report

Updated 10^th December 2024 

1. What is a Compliance Reporting Buyer?

A Compliance Reporting Buyer is defined as any natural or legal person (or group of persons) established in the State, who buys agricultural and food products, and had an annual turnover of more than €50,000,000 in the previous year.

2. My business has a turnover of greater than €50m but agri-food products only account for a small portion of the total turnover. Are we a Compliance Reporting Buyer?

You are considered to be a Compliance Reporting Buyer if your total businesses turnover, from your agri-food product buying and your other business activities, is more than €50m annually.

3. What are agri-food products?

Agri-food products are defined as ‘products listed in Annex I to the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as products not listed in that Annex, but which are processed for use as food using products listed in that Annex’.

The list is very extensive, but some broad categories include:

• live animals, live trees and other plants, cut flowers and ornamental foliage, cereals, and milling industry products.
• vegetables, fruit, fish, meat and dairy produce.
• alcohol products.
• processed products such as chocolate, prepared meals or sauces and processed dairy products (e.g. dairy spreads or yoghurts).

4. What is a Compliance Reporting Buyer required to do?

A Compliance Reporting Buyer is required to:

• designate a suitably qualified staff member to act as liaison officer with the Regulator in relation to the Unfair Trading Regulations, and
  
  
• submit an annual compliance report to the Regulator not later than 31^st March of each year detailing the buyer’s compliance with the Unfair Trading Regulations to cover the period of the previous calendar year.

5. What is the purpose of the annual compliance report?

The annual compliance report is required to allow the Regulator to monitor compliance with the provisions of the Unfair Trading Regulations and may be used to inform the conducting of risk-based inspections of agri-food buyer businesses. The areas you need to report on are set out in legislation and there is a template report form to complete for this purpose.

6. When is the annual compliance report deadline?

The deadline for submission is 31^st March of each year, detailing the Compliance Reporting Buyer’s compliance with the Unfair Trading Regulations to cover the period of the previous calendar year.

The first annual compliance report is due to be submitted to the Regulator by 31^st March 2025 to cover the period of 2024.

7. Who within the business is responsible for the completion of the annual compliance report?

The annual compliance report must be signed by the director of, or secretary to, the Compliance Reporting Buyer.

8. Is there a specific template available for the annual compliance report?

Yes, the template for completion is available from the Regulator – please email compliance@agrifoodregulator.ie

9. Who do I contact if I have a question about completing the annual compliance report template?

If you have a specific question regarding the template, please email compliance@agrifoodregulator.ie or phone 01-601 9900

10. How do I submit the completed annual compliance report?

The completed annual compliance report can be submitted on the secure online submission portal contained on the template or can be emailed to compliance@agrifoodregulator.ie

11. What are the consequences of not submitting the annual compliance report by the deadline?

If you are a Compliance Reporting Buyer, it is a legal requirement to submit an annual compliance report by the deadline and it is an offence under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain (Unfair Trading) Regulations not to do so.

12. Do I only need to include information on Irish suppliers?

No, details of all suppliers regardless of whether established in the State or not are required to be submitted by the Compliance Reporting Buyer.

13. Do I have to provide details of supply agreements where the supplier’s turnover exceeds that of the Compliance Reporting Buyer?

Compliance Reporting Buyers are requested to differentiate between suppliers that they regard as having a higher turnover than themselves. For these suppliers, the Regulator requires the supplier contact details only be included in the annual compliance report.

14. Where there are several companies combined in a single group structure, is an annual compliance report required for each individual company?

No, a single group submission will suffice where there are several companies or multiple trading entities combined in a single group structure.
In the event the Compliance Reporting Buyer is a Group, a list of all the companies being reported on must be provided in Question 10 of the annual compliance report.

15. Am I allowed to give details of my suppliers to the Agri-Food Regulator under the General Data Protection Regulation EU/2016/679 (GDPR)?

There is an obligation on buyers to maintain and provide details or copies of records to the Regulator upon request according to Regulation 8(7) of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain (Unfair Trading) Regulations 2023. Details of supply agreements are required to be included in this annual compliance report according to Regulation 7(3)(f) of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain (Unfair Trading) Regulations 2023. This constitutes a legal basis for the processing of data to fulfil a legal obligation of the data controller as specified in Article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Processing Regulation EU/2016/679.

Compliance Reporting Buyers may, as a matter of good practice, contact suppliers to indicate that they are required to share details of suppliers and supply agreements with the Regulator.

16. What is a supply agreement?

A supply agreement means a contract (whether orally or in writing) for the sale or supply of agri-food products by a supplier to a buyer.

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If you are a buyer of agri-food products and your annual turnover exceeds €50 million, you are a ‘compliance reporting buyer’* under the Agricultural and Food Supply (Unfair Trading) Regulations 2023 which commenced on 13^th December 2023.

A compliance reporting buyer is required in particular to:

1. designate a suitably qualified staff member as a liaison officer to liaise with the Regulator in relation to these Regulations and confirm the officer’s name, position and contact details to the Regulator not later than 6 months after commencement of these Regulations (Regulation 9).
2. submit an annual compliance report to the Regulator not later than 31 March of each year detailing the compliance reporting buyer’s compliance with these Regulations to cover the period of the previous calendar year (Regulation 7). The first report is due by 31 March 2025.

 *Under the Agricultural and Food Supply (Unfair Trading) Regulations 2023, “compliance reporting buyer” means any natural or legal person (or group of persons) established in the State, who buys agricultural and food products, and had an annual turnover of more than €50,000,000 in the previous year).