An Rialálaí Agraibhia (the “Regulator”) established in December 2023 under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Act 2023 (the “2023 Act”) has a dual statutory role: enforcing EU legislation on unfair trading practices (“UTPs”); and, carrying out price and market analysis.
The new Agri-Food (Price and Marketing Information) Regulations 2025 (the “Regulations”) were published on 30th December 2025 which will provide the Regulator with additional powers to compel the provision of price and market information from businesses from 31 December 2026.
The introduction of these powers shows a willingness of the Irish legislature to regulate large grocery businesses to a far greater extent than is required by EU law.
These new RFI powers relate specifically to the Regulator’s price and market analysis function, which is a creature of Irish law and separate from its enforcement role in relation to unfair trading practices arising from EU law.
These Regulations introduce new RFI powers, such that the Regulator will issue RFIs requiring the provision of information such as:
- Prices paid or received for agricultural food products;
- Production, processing and distribution costs;
- Volumes purchased, processed or sold;
- Market and pricing data relevant to supply chain analysis; and
- Associated contextual information necessary to interpret the data provided
It is expected that the information requests may relate to defined products and time periods.
Scope and exceptions
The 2023 Act applies across the agri-food supply chain, including supermarkets and large retailers. However, it has been confirmed that the new regulations will exclude small businesses in recognition of the potential administrative burden such measures can place on smaller enterprises.
For the purposes of these regulations, a small business is defined, in line with EU legislation, as an enterprise that employs fewer than 50 persons and whose annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total does not exceed €10 million.
The Regulations will provide that the Regulator may not compel data for an individual product from any business more than once in a 12-month period.
Enforcement
Failure to comply with a RFI or the provision of incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information could expose a business to enforcement action under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Act 2023 and trigger it will be considered an offence under Section 6(2) of the Regulations state for any person on whom the information notice to fail to comply with the notice.
Section 6(4) of the new Regulations provides that RFIs may be appealed within seven working days to a judge of the Circuit Court, the judge may then confirm, vary or cancel the notice.
It remains to be seen whether or not a concern about RFI powers being exercised excessively or disproportionally, without due regard to issues of confidentiality and commercial sensitivity, will be accepted by the Regulator and/or the Irish courts as a valid defence for partial or full non-compliance with a RFI.
Next steps
These Regulations come into operation on 31 December 2026. From that date, affected businesses should be ready to receive RFIs from the Regulator, in particular where they have refused to provide information voluntarily in the past. We anticipate that affected businesses will require legal advice on seeking to negotiate with the Regulator in relation to reducing the scope of RFIs and/or in relation to defending themselves against potential enforcement action for non-compliance with a RFI.
For further information on the above, please contact Kate McKenna, a member of the Competition and Regulation group or your usual Matheson contact.