Europe takes tentative step towards demolishing procurement walls

Will supermarket chains soon be able to source their products more easily across EU borders? The European Commission wants to remove (some) barriers, but retailers are disappointed that legislation does not seem to be coming soon.

“Develop tools”

Europe wants to remove so-called “territorial supply constraints”, which cause large price differences between identical products in the European single market – which are sometimes difficult to explain. Multinationals allegedly prevent supermarket chains from buying products more cheaply across borders in various ways, resulting in consumers paying fourteen billion euros too much for their groceries every year, according to a study.