While contributors to the “Great Debate” must bring their work to an end by October 15, the first signs of a consensus are emerging. Launched by French Minister for Agriculture Bruno Le Maire to prepare for the up-coming Law of Modernization of Agriculture (LMA), the debate highlighted the fact that all members of the “Competitiveness and Revenues” group are hoping that joint-trade organizations can determine market trend indicators, as was the case for the Centre National Interprofessionnel de l’Economie Laitière or CNIEL (the French national dairy industry council), before the Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes or DGCCRF (the French general directorate for fair trading, consumer affairs and fraud control) brought an end to it in September 2008.
This consensus is all the more noteworthy since experts remain divided regarding other issues. It shows that, during the process of CAP gradual deregulation, joint-trade organizations increasingly perform as a major player in trade regulation policies. An interesting lead to follow up on, in as much it reduces uncertainty. But how can one ensure that it complies with fair-trading regulations at the European level and at the WTO? |