Compliance Survey of The Supply Chain Initiative

Questionnaire

Introduction
The web-based methodology guarantees the confidentiality of the company answers. Only the
research company will have access to company questionnaire and answers.

A European report based on aggregated anonymous data will be shared with companies after the
survey has been completed.

Please complete this questionnaire by 30 September 2014.

Please note that the wording of the questions might slightly differ from the one used in the
Framework in order to facilitate the analysis work.

The phrase “The Principles of Good Practice” refers to The Principles of good practice in vertical
relations in the food supply chain adopted on 29 November 2011.

Company demographics
1. For which country are you answering this survey? Please tick a box (one answer possible)

Austria Germany Poland

Belgium Greece Portugal

Bulgaria Hungary Romania

Croatia Ireland Slovakia

Cyprus Italy Slovenia

Czech Latvia Spain

Republic

Compliance Survey - Working documents 1

 Denmark Lithuania Sweden

Estonia Luxembourg United Kingdom

Finland Malta

France Netherlands

2. What is the size of your company in this country?

o Turnover in 2013 (please tick one box)

more than €50 millions
less than or equal to €50 millions

o Full time employees in 2013 (please tick one box)

more than 250
less than or equal to 250

o Balance sheet in 2013 (please tick one box)

more than €43 mio

less than or equal to €43 mio

Calculation whether this is an SME: employees ≤ 250 and either turnover ≤€50mio or balance sheet ≤ €43 mio

3. In which part of the food supply chain is your company active in this country? Please tick boxes,
several answers possible

Farming
Wholesale
Manufacturing
Retail

Respect of the process commitments

A/ Training

4. A) Has training been set up to ensure compliance with the Principles of Good Practice? Please
tick a box, one answer possible

yes
partially

no

4. B) If yes or partially, how many of your staff members have been trained? Please insert a figure

Compliance Survey - Working documents 2

________

5. If partially, when is the completion of training expected? Please tick a box, one answer possible
< 3 months
From 3 to 6 months
> 6 months

6. (If yes or partially in q4 ) Is your company using the e-learning module provided by the
Governance Group and developed by SAI? Please tick a box, one answer possible

yes

no

7. (If yes on q6) Using a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is low and 5 very high, please evaluate the e-
learning module provided by the Governance Group and developed by SAI ? One choice per
criterion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Efficiency

Clarity

Usefulness

B/ Communication

8. A) Has your company communicated to its business partners its engagement to the Supply
Chain Initiative? Please tick a box, one answer possible

Yes
No

8. B) (If yes) Which of the below tools have you used to communicate to your business partners
your company engagement into the Supply Chain Initiative? Please tick boxes, several answers
possible

Letter/email
Website
Written notice in meeting rooms
Written notice in contracts
Mention in Annual report
Other: ____________

Compliance Survey - Working documents 3

 C/ Operation of the dispute resolution options

We measure the effectiveness of the dispute resolution options offered by the Supply Chain
Initiative.

1/ Complaints lodged

9. How many complaints towards trading partners has your company lodged for alleged
breaches of Principles of Good Practice since your registration? Please register a number in the box
below

 IF “0”  GO to Q13

10. When filing complaints since your registration, which among the following Principles of Good
Practice have been allegedly breached? Please tick boxes, several answers possible

CONSUMERS: Contracting parties should always take into account consumer interests and the
overall sustainability of the supply chain in their B2B relations. Contracting parties should ensure
maximum efficiency and optimisation of resources in the distribution of goods throughout the supply
chain.

FREEDOM OF CONTRACT: Contracting parties are independent economic entities, respecting

each other’s rights to set their own strategy and management policy, including the freedom to
determine independently whether to engage or not in any agreement.

FAIR DEALING: Contracting parties should deal with each other responsibly, in good faith and
with professional diligence.

WRITTEN AGREEMENTS: Agreements should be in writing, unless impracticable or where oral

agreements are mutually acceptable and convenient. They should be clear and transparent, and
cover as many relevant and foreseeable elements as possible, including rights and procedures of
termination.

PREDICTABILITY: Unilateral change to contract terms shall not take place unless this possibility
and its circumstances and conditions have been agreed in advance. The agreements should outline
the process for each party to discuss with the other any changes necessary for the implementation of
the agreement or due to unforeseeable circumstances, as provided in the agreement.

COMPLIANCE: Agreements must be complied with.

INFORMATION: Where information is exchanged, this shall be done in strict compliance with
competition and other applicable laws, and the parties should take reasonable care to ensure that
the information supplied is correct and not misleading.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Confidentiality of information must be respected unless the information is

already public or has been independently obtained by the receiving party lawfully and in good faith.
Confidential information shall be used by the recipient party only for the purpose for which it was
communicated.

Compliance Survey - Working documents 4

 RESPONSIBILITY FOR RISK: All contracting parties in the supply chain should bear their own
appropriate entrepreneurial risks.

JUSTIFIABLE REQUEST: A contracting party shall not apply threats in order to obtain an
unjustified advantage or to transfer an unjustified cost.

11. A) Has your company been exposed to commercial retaliation since your registration by a
trade partner registered in the Supply Chain Initiative after you activated one of the available
dispute resolution options? Please tick a box, one answer possible

yes

no

11. B) If yes, how many cases? Please insert a figure

12. Among the total number of complaints filed since your registration how many have been
resolved and how many were resolved within 4 months? Please insert a figure for each dispute
resolution mechanism used.

Number of
Number of complaints your
complaints your company raised
company raised which were resolved
which were resolved within 4 months
If several mechanism used, please refer to the latest since your (only applies to the
mechanism that led to the dispute resolution registration first 2 options)
Commercial track (taking the issue to a higher level of
the trade partner commercial’s hierarchy)
Internal dispute resolution office of the trade partner
Mediation
Arbitration
Jurisdictional methods according to national rules and
regulations

2/ Complaints received

13. How many complaints has your company received from trading partners invoking an alleged
breach of the Principles of Good Practice since your registration? Please insert a figure

 If “0”  Go to Q16

Compliance Survey - Working documents 5

 14. When receiving complaints since your registration, which among the following Principles of
Good Practice have been allegedly breached? Please tick boxes, several answers possible

CONSUMERS: Contracting parties should always take into account consumer interests and the
overall sustainability of the supply chain in their B2B relations. Contracting parties should ensure
maximum efficiency and optimisation of resources in the distribution of goods throughout the supply
chain.

FREEDOM OF CONTRACT: Contracting parties are independent economic entities, respecting

each other’s rights to set their own strategy and management policy, including the freedom to
determine independently whether to engage or not in any agreement.

FAIR DEALING: Contracting parties should deal with each other responsibly, in good faith and
with professional diligence.

WRITTEN AGREEMENTS: Agreements should be in writing, unless impracticable or where oral

agreements are mutually acceptable and convenient. They should be clear and transparent, and
cover as many relevant and foreseeable elements as possible, including rights and procedures of
termination.

PREDICTABILITY: Unilateral change to contract terms shall not take place unless this possibility
and its circumstances and conditions have been agreed in advance. The agreements should outline
the process for each party to discuss with the other any changes necessary for the implementation of
the agreement or due to unforeseeable circumstances, as provided in the agreement.

COMPLIANCE: Agreements must be complied with.

INFORMATION: Where information is exchanged, this shall be done in strict compliance with
competition and other applicable laws, and the parties should take reasonable care to ensure that
the information supplied is correct and not misleading.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Confidentiality of information must be respected unless the information is

already public or has been independently obtained by the receiving party lawfully and in good faith.
Confidential information shall be used by the recipient party only for the purpose for which it was
communicated.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR RISK: All contracting parties in the supply chain should bear their own
appropriate entrepreneurial risks.

JUSTIFIABLE REQUEST: A contracting party shall not apply threats in order to obtain an
unjustified advantage or to transfer an unjustified cost.

15. Among the total number of complaints received since your registration, how many have
been resolved and how many were resolved within 4 months? Please provide a number of
resolutions for each possible dispute resolution mechanism used.

Compliance Survey - Working documents 6

 Number of
Number of complaints your
complaints your company received
company received which were resolved
which were resolved within 4 months
since your (only applies to the
If several mechanism used, please refer to the latest registration first 2 options)
mechanism that led to the dispute resolution
Commercial track (taking the issue to a higher level of
the trade partner commercial’s hierarchy)
Internal dispute resolution office of the trade partner
Mediation
Arbitration
Jurisdictional methods according to national rules and
regulations

Satisfaction and impact on business

16. Since your registration to the Supply Chain Initiative, has your company perceived an
improvement in trading practices? Please tick a box, one answer possible
Yes to a certain extent

Yes to a great extent

No

17. Using a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is low and 10 very high, please indicate your company’s
overall satisfaction with the Initiative? Please tick a box, one answer possible
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Quality check
The information you provide will remain confidential. To help us ensure the proper management of
the survey and eliminate potential duplication, we thank you for providing us with the information
below:

Company name: ____________

Country: _________

What is your function in your company?

Legal
Sales

Compliance Survey - Working documents 7

 Procurement
Corporate
Thank you very much for your time and support in gathering facts and figures regarding the
implementation of the Supply Chain Initiative – Together for good trading practices.

If you have any question on the content of the survey, please send an email to
jimbert@eurocoop.coop

If you have any technical issue, please contact Ariane.VALSAMIS@dedicated.be

Compliance Survey - Working documents 8

 Annex I Reference document
Page 9
“Pillar 4: verifying compliance, evaluating the success and developing the framework
Monitoring is the responsibility of the governance group and will be done annually starting in Q4
2014 with a mid-term review by Q2 2014. [ ]

There will be a simple survey to help companies monitor progress and to serve as a basis for
evaluation of compliance. The survey will not cover the substance of any disputes handled under this
framework. It is based on three elements of phase 2:
Training;
operation of the dispute resolution options;
communication

Elements of the survey on the functioning of the dispute resolution options (this information will be
further processed for reporting purposes on an anonymous basis) will be:
country, size of company and part of the food supply chain;
number of complaints filed with other economic operators (see chapter V);
number of complaints received from other economic operators (see chapter V);
the principles that have allegedly been breached (this will allow the identification of possible
weaknesses and need to review some principles and/or examples);
number of dispute(s) resolved through each dispute resolution option;
satisfaction with the framework, including reassurance against the fear of commercial retaliation,
and suggestions for improvement.

Impact as well as effectiveness of the framework will also be measured:

impact would be measured by asking whether complaints for breach of the principles during the
period surveyed had an appreciably greater, comparable, or appreciably lower impact on the
company’s business than in the previous period;
effectiveness of the framework would be measured by asking whether over the same period the
framework had helped address complaints appreciably better, in a comparable way, or appreciably
worse than in the previous period.

The annual monitoring would be conducted in the form of a mandatory survey of all registered
companies. Each company whose registration covers more than one country will ensure that all
national subsidiaries covered by its registration complete the survey at national level in each of the
EU’s Member State in which it is present.

The survey will be conducted online with results sent to a neutral intermediary appointed by the
governance group (see section IV below) and bound by strict rules of confidentiality and legal
privilege. The neutral intermediary will pass on the anonymous replies to the governance group that
will aggregate results and present them in a suitable form. Members of the governance group are
free to survey their own members regarding the functioning of the system, including non-registered
companies, and can offer input on that basis for the annual reporting. They should inform the other
members of the governance group of this intention and preferably design the survey in a compatible
way to facilitate evaluation and harmonise the results.

Compliance Survey - Working documents 9

 1. Annual reporting

The governance group will produce the annual report with the findings, conclusions and
recommendations for improvements to the framework. This would include an EU level report and
country sections. The governance group may outsource the production of the report. The annual
reporting will cover:

- The results of the survey (see point 1)

- A report of activities of the governance group, including compliance with process commitments,
major sanctions and any possible interpretation of the Principles and examples for guidance in
their implementation.

The governance group will present and discuss the preliminary results of the annual report with the
European Commission before elaborating the final version

The results of the annual monitoring will be communicated publicly by the governance group and will
be shared with the European Commission and European Parliament. National federations, public
authorities and companies will be encouraged to disseminate the results of the survey.

After the publication of the annual report, the governance group will conduct an evaluation of the
framework to be concluded by Q3 2014.

If the framework is judged to be working, simple adjustments will be recommended as appropriate.

If not, the governance group will decide whether to reshape the framework or bring it to an end. In
that case, the governance group could decide to work together to ensure that a workable EU
framework legislation is introduced.

2. Interpretation and development of the principles

At the time of the annual reporting, the governance group will examine, based on the experience
gained, any need for interpretation or development of the Principles and examples for guidance in
their implementation, without relation to any actual dispute.

Page 12

”Number of complaints resolved within four months by type of resolution channel used

The governance group will inter alia analyse the number of complaints lodged, the resolution
channels used as well as the number of complaints resolved within four months.”

Compliance Survey - Working documents 10