Overview
Lobbying Costs
600,000€ - 699,999€
Financial year: Jan 2023 - Dec 2023
Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
6 Fte (6)
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
6
High-level Commission meetings
24
Lobbying Costs over the years
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Info
Independent Retail Europe (formerly UGAL - Union of Groups of Independent Retailers of Europe)
EU Transparency Register
034546859-02 First registered on 25 Jun 2008
Goals / Remit
Established in 1963, Independent Retail Europe is the European trade association of groups of independent retailers in the food & all non-food sectors.The organisation represents cooperative retail groups of independent SME retailers.The majority of our groups have a cooperative or similar format whereby – different from franchises – the retailers are the main shareholders & play a major role in the group’s activities and strategy, whilst remaining fully independent retailers.These groups allow for the joint purchasing of goods & services to attain efficiencies & economies of scale & provide a support network to independent SME member retailers.The members of the groups often operate under 1 common brand name.Groups of independent retailers constitute a large part of the retail market, as much as 30% in certain Western European countries.Members are groups of independent retailers & national associations thereof as well as other types of organisations that support independent retailers
Main EU files targeted
Due to their structure – a supporting group and individual SME member retailers – legislation can affect groups of independent retailers differently than integrated business models. To ensure that both the wholesale groups and their hundreds of thousands of independent retailer members can remain competitive in the on- and offline market, we ensure that EU policy and legislation do not constitute a disproportionate or unnecessary burden for independent retailers as well as their groups.
COMPETITION RULES – The central (wholesale) organisations of the groups as well as each member retailer are separate legal entities, whereby the central organisations act at a different economic level of the chain than their SME member retailers, vertical agreements between these organisations and their retailers are indispensable to their functioning. These agreements concern e.g. information exchange, joint purchasing & commercialisation and standardisation. Their pro-competitive effects benefit consumers. On a horizontal level, the retailers are independent entrepreneurs and competitors in the same catchment area. Due to this, agreements in groups of independent retailers are subject to the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation and Guidelines, and the Guidelines on Horizontal Agreements. This has a disproportionate negative impact on their competitiveness, particularly in a digital market, in comparison to their main competitors, integrated retail chains, whose internal activities are not limited by these rules. We seek a fairer treatment of group structures under competition rules to heighten competition and consumer benefit. Issues: VBER, the VGL & HGL, single-price platforms, selective distribution, dual distribution, dual pricing, joint purchasing, alliances, territorial supply constraints, market definition, DMA…
DIGITAL AND SINGLE MARKET STRATEGY – Our members are multi-channel retailers. We seek to ensure that EU policy respects a level playing field for all retail channels and that our groups can efficiently operate on- and offline, and are able to compete on fair terms. Due to their business model, the websites of groups of independent retailers are by nature platforms. These closed platforms of EU-based member retailers present no more risk to consumers than their brick and mortar stores. Issues: Single Market Act, DSA, Data Act, product liability, consumer protection online, payment systems, digital Euro, VAT, cybersecurity, AI, TSC…
SUSTAINABILITY – Sustainability legislation needs to be practicable, effective and efficient. Sustainability has a cost; any unnecessary and disproportionate burdens and costs should be avoided. Where possible, burdens should be borne at group level of our businesses, in line with the logic of their cooperative business model. Issues: due diligence, non-financial reporting, circular economy, Farm to Fork Strategy, energy efficiency, eco & energy labelling, waste (food waste, PPWR, EPR), ecodesign…
INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY/RETAIL ECOSYSTEM – Groups of independent retailers constitute a large part of the retail market, as much as 30% in certain Western European countries. We seek to ensure that the strategy benefits and reflects the needs of groups of independent retailers and consumers. Issues: transition pathways for retail and agri-food, diverse retail market, healthy cities & rural areas, SME strategy, SME financing, entrepreneurship, skills & jobs, B2B trading practices, supply chain transparency.
CONSUMER PROTECTION – Our members are committed to ensuring consumer protection and health. This is essential for their close relationships with customers and their reputation. We seek clear, understandable rules that can be easily implemented and do not constitute unnecessary burdens on SME retailers. Issues: product safety & liability, labelling (ecolabelling, energy labelling, NutriScore, green claims), healthy food, packaging, consumer contracts, digital product passport, right to repair…Address
Head Office
Rue Archimède 5 boîte 3
Bruxelles 1000
BELGIUMEU Office
Rue Archimède 5 boîte 3
Bruxelles 1000
BELGIUMWebsite
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People
Total lobbyists declared
6
Employment time Lobbyists 100% 6 Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
6
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
All Lobbyists with EP accreditation over time
6 accreditations were / are live (in bold) for the selected state of 23 Nov 2024
Name Start date End Date Romanos ANTONOPOULOS 01 Sep 2024 31 Aug 2025 Else Groen 15 Apr 2024 14 Apr 2026 Andrea SCHIERBAUM 25 Jul 2024 24 Jul 2025 Alexis WARAVKA 01 Jul 2024 30 Jun 2026 Laurence DESSOUROUX 06 Aug 2024 05 Aug 2025 Margarida Nogueira 25 Jul 2024 24 Jul 2025 Andrea SCHIERBAUM 23 Jan 2024 02 Oct 2024 Maria Margarida BOTA DE MELO PINTO NOGUEIRA 10 Jan 2024 04 Oct 2024 Romanos ANTONOPOULOS 21 Sep 2023 21 Sep 2024 Alexis WARAVKA 08 Jul 2023 05 Jul 2024 Ms Else GROEN 23 Feb 2023 11 Mar 2024 Alexis WARAVKA 26 Aug 2022 08 Jul 2023 Ms Sophia KRUGEL 23 Aug 2022 07 Jul 2023 Mr Julius LORENZEN 20 Aug 2022 03 Jul 2023 Ms Sophia KRUGEL 02 Sep 2021 23 Aug 2022 Alexis WARAVKA 25 Aug 2021 25 Aug 2022 Mr Julius LORENZEN 25 Aug 2021 20 Aug 2022 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 10 Jan 2020 07 Oct 2020 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 23 Jan 2019 14 Jul 2019 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 23 Jan 2019 10 Jan 2020 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 23 Jan 2019 05 Jan 2020 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 30 Jan 2018 23 Jan 2019 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 30 Jan 2018 23 Jan 2019 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 30 Jan 2018 23 Jan 2019 Ms Laurence DESSOUROUX 30 Jan 2018 30 Jan 2019 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 02 Feb 2017 30 Jan 2018 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 02 Feb 2017 30 Jan 2018 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 02 Feb 2017 30 Jan 2018 Ms Laurence DESSOUROUX 02 Feb 2017 30 Jan 2018 Ms Laurence DESSOUROUX 23 Feb 2016 03 Feb 2017 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 12 Feb 2016 03 Feb 2017 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 12 Feb 2016 03 Feb 2017 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 12 Feb 2016 03 Feb 2017 Ms Else GROEN 05 Jun 2015 03 Jun 2016 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 11 Feb 2015 04 Feb 2016 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 11 Feb 2015 06 Feb 2016 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 11 Feb 2015 05 Feb 2016 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 12 Mar 2014 12 Feb 2015 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 11 Mar 2014 12 Feb 2015 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 11 Mar 2014 12 Feb 2015 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 24 Apr 2013 11 Mar 2014 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 23 Apr 2013 11 Mar 2014 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 23 Apr 2013 12 Mar 2014 Mr Ravi BHATIANI 17 Jul 2012 23 Apr 2013 Ms Ariane CARRÉ 17 Jul 2012 23 Apr 2013 Elisabeth FREIIN VON REITZENSTEIN 17 Jul 2012 23 Apr 2013 Mr Denis LABATUT 30 Sep 2011 08 Jul 2012 Complementary Information
None declared
Person in charge of EU relations
Data not provided by Register Secretariat due to GDPR
Person with legal responsibility
Data not provided by Register Secretariat due to GDPR
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Categories
Category
Trade and business associations
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Networking
Affiliation
Liaison committee of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Business and Marketing Practices in the Food Supply Chain
Member organisations
None declared
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Financial Data
Interests represented
Promotes their own interests or the collective interests of their members
Closed financial year
Jan 2023 - Dec 2023
Lobbying costs for closed financial year
600,000€ - 699,999€
Major contributions in closed year
None declared
Intermediaries for closed year
None declaredIntermediaries for current year
None declaredClosed year Costs
600,000€ - 699,999€
Other financial info
None declared
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EU Structures
Groups (European Commission)
Expert Group on the European Food Security Crisis Preparedness and Response Mechanism#E03829#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3829 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsAdvisory Group on Sustainability of Food Systems#E03832#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3832 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsWorking Group on Plant Health#E03832/2#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=103432 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsExpert Group EU Agri-Food Chain Observatory#E03949#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3949 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsEcodesign and Energy Labelling Consultation Forum#X03609#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3609 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsConsumer Policy Advisory Group#E03750#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3750 #MEMBER #C#SMEsExpert Group on B2B data sharing and cloud computing contracts / Sub-group - stakeholders#E03840/1#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=103092 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsWorking Group on Seeds and Propagating Material#E03832/3#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=103433 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsConsumer food waste prevention sub-group#E03421/5#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=102312 #MEMBER #C#Other#SMEsEU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste#E03421#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3421 #MEMBER #C#Other#SMEsAnimal Health Advisory Comittee#E03832/1#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=103292 #MEMBER #C#Industry#SMEsDate marking and food waste prevention sub-group#E03421/4#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=100597 #MEMBER #C#Other#SMEs
Groups (European Parliament)
N/A
Communication activities
Independent Retail Europe frequently comments on policy issues on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/independent-retail-europe) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/inderetaileu). Our website https://IndependentRetailEurope.eu/en contains a selection of our position papers. For positions on other issues, please contact us. We organise interactive events with stakeholders and policy makers entitled “Independent Retail Europe Policy Platform”, bringing together policy makers and independent retailers and their groups to exchange on specific policy issues of concern and interest. We organise, together with other European retail associations, the European Retail Day.
Other activities
None declared
Meetings
Meetings
24 meetings found. Download meetings
The list below only covers meetings held since November 2014 with commissioners, their cabinet members or directors-general at the European Commission; other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may have taken place, but the European Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. For more information about which commissioner is responsible for which portfolio, check out this link: https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/index_en All information below comes from European Commission web pages.
1 July 2024: We have noted that some meetings are appearing in duplicate, ie. some meetings seem to be listed twice. This seems to be because the Commission changes some element of a meeting data after the meeting has first been listed, which causes LobbyFacts to register it as a new meeting. We are investigating further.
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Date 12 Apr 2024 Location Brussels Subject Meeting to present the research on food waste management Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski Attending - Roberto Berutti (Cabinet member)
Other Lobbyists -
Date 02 Dec 2020 Location Brussels Subject Digital Markets Act Cabinet Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager Portfolio Europe Fit for Digital Age Attending - Werner Stengg (Cabinet member)
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Date 21 Apr 2020 Location Videoconference Subject economic impact of COVID-19 on the retail sector Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton Portfolio Internal Market Attending - Thierry Breton (Commissioner)
- Pauline Weinzierl (Cabinet member)
Other Lobbyists -
Date 09 Apr 2018 Location Brussels, Belgium Subject New deal for consumers – dual quality Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová Portfolio Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Attending - Eduard Hulicius (Cabinet member)
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Date 22 Mar 2018 Location Brussels Subject unfair trading practices, relations with third countries Cabinet Cabinet of Vice-President Cecilia Malmström Portfolio Trade Attending - Nele Eichhorn (Cabinet member)
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Date 22 Feb 2018 Location Brussels Subject Exchange of views on CCTB/CCCTB proposal and Digital taxation Cabinet Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis Portfolio Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union Attending - Gints Freimanis (Cabinet member)
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Date 27 Nov 2017 Location Brussels Subject Digital / Agricultural Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel Portfolio Digital Economy and Society Attending - Carl-Christian Buhr (Cabinet member)
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Date 16 Nov 2017 Location Brussels Subject Food waste, Food chain initiative Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis Portfolio Health & Food Safety Attending - Marco Valletta (Cabinet member)
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Date 22 May 2017 Location Brussels, BERL Subject the supply chain initiative, as well as unfair trading practices Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan Portfolio Agriculture & Rural Development Attending - Elisabetta Siracusa (Cabinet member)
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Date 09 Mar 2017 Location Brussels Subject Current business practices in the retail sector Cabinet Cabinet of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen Portfolio Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Attending - Filomena Chirico (Cabinet member)
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Date 01 Mar 2017 Location Brussels Subject Unfair trading practices Cabinet Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker Portfolio President Attending - Paulina Dejmek Hack (Cabinet member)
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Date 25 Aug 2016 Location Brussels Subject competition related e-commerce developments and competition in the food supply chain Cabinet Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker Portfolio President Attending - Paulina Dejmek Hack (Cabinet member)
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Date 24 Aug 2016 Location Brussels Subject Supply Chain Initiative Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan Portfolio Agriculture & Rural Development Attending - Christiane Canenbley (Cabinet member)
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Date 15 Jan 2016 Location Brussels Subject Supply Chain Initiative Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska Portfolio Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Attending - Rolf Carsten Bermig (Cabinet member)
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Date 24 Nov 2015 Location Brussels Subject Single Market Strategy Cabinet Cabinet of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen Portfolio Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Attending - Juho Romakkaniemi (Cabinet member)
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Date 20 Nov 2015 Location Brussels Subject Issues of interest for the European Retail sector Cabinet Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker Portfolio President Attending - Paulina Dejmek Hack (Cabinet member)
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Date 22 Oct 2015 Location Brussels, Belgium Subject Latest development on food chain policy after President Juncker's SoU Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan Portfolio Agriculture & Rural Development Attending - Carl-Christian Buhr (Cabinet member)
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Date 25 Sep 2015 Location Brussels, Belgium Subject corporate taxation (CCCTB), country-by-country reporting (CBCR) and value added tax (VAT) Cabinet Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis Portfolio Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union Attending - Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet member)
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Date 07 Jul 2015 Location Brussels Subject Platforms & geo-blocking Cabinet Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip Portfolio Digital Single Market Attending - Jasmin Battista (Cabinet member)
- Kamila Kloc (Cabinet member)
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Date 04 Jun 2015 Location Berlaymont, Brussels Subject Better Regulation Cabinet Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans Portfolio Better Regulation, Interinstitutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights Attending - Michelle Sutton (Cabinet member)
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Date 28 Apr 2015 Location Brussels, Belgium Subject Eu plans on tax transparency and corporate taxation, reverse charge on VAT Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Pierre Moscovici Portfolio Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Attending - Maria Elena Scoppio (Cabinet member)
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Date 17 Mar 2015 Location Brussels Subject Digital Single Market DG Günther Oettinger Attending - Markus Schulte (Cabinet member)
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Date 25 Feb 2015 Location Brussels, Belgium Subject Presentation by IRE of its organisation and members. Presentation of its work in and views about the Supply Chain Initiative and its future Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan Portfolio Agriculture & Rural Development Attending - Carl-Christian Buhr (Cabinet member)
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Date 18 Feb 2015 Location Berlaymont, Brussels Subject Introductory meeting Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska Portfolio Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Attending - Agnieszka Drzewoska (Cabinet member)
- Kaius Kristian Hedberg (Cabinet member)