Agriculture ministers aiming to a concrete proposal for it by March.Ottawa—The federal and provincial agriculture ministers want to receive a solid proposal for a Grocery Code of Conduct by March to deal with food industry complaints about the practices of the country's five largest retail chains.At their recent annual meeting in Guelph, the federal and provincial ministers also asked for an update in December on talks on the Code that began earlier this year. The ministers “reiterated the need for industry to develop a retail fee Code of conduct or practice that improves transparency, predictability, and respect for the principles of fair dealing.” They want the Code to contain a dispute resolution framework as well.Participants in the Code discussions say the process, being led by an independent facilitator, is continuing to move forward through constructive discussions.Kathleen Sullivan, CEO of Food and Beverage Canada said, “Industry has an aggressive program of work and is making progress towards the development of a Code. It is a complex undertaking and, while we recognize the importance of milestones, we are focused on in ensuring that we develop a Code that is effective and appropriate for Canada.”Food, Health and Consumer Products says it “continues to support the process and remain committed to working with facilitator to support advancement of a legislated code that ensures fairness for all sides and benefits Canadians.”The Canadian Federation of Agriculture said, “There's comfort and understanding of the expectations set for the process and the process continues to move forward through constructive discussions and is progressing accordingly.”Back in June, the ministers passed the development of the Code to the food industry after months of discussions at the political level. Farm groups, food processors and independent grocers began pushing for a Code back in 2020. Among the contentious issues are product fees charged by the grocery chains.Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the industry should work together to improve transparency, predictability, and respect for the principles of fair dealing that would be beneficial for the agrifood sector and its supply chain partners.At the time, she said the ministers wanted an update before the end of the 2021.The Canadian Food Industry Collaborative Alliance concluded Canadians would be best served with “just one Code of Practice throughout the country administered uniformly to ensure consistency. The alternative presents the possibility of different Codes across jurisdictions, which would impose increased costs and complexity throughout the supply chain.“The Code of Practice must also include a strong oversight framework that ensures accountability of the participants. The Code of Practice would not be embedded in regulation, thereby providing flexibility for it to evolve, however participation would be mandatory,” the Alliance said in a statement.The Code would be based on principles of transparency and contractual certainty in all commercial transactions, best practice reciprocity throughout the supply chain, fair and ethical dealings in contract negotiations, equitable distribution of food supply, supports for small and mid-sized parties to commercial transactions and an effective, fair and applicable dispute resolution process.”