From 2025, the buyer who disappears the producers’ money will no longer be a company manager

By: STA Date: 2024. 12. 13. 09:00

Thanks to the producer protection law package adopted by the Parliament, from 1 January 2025, not only late payment beyond 30 days will be punishable. The new rule is that those who not only did not pay the price of the goods received from agricultural producers, but also withdrew the funds during the liquidation or final settlement of their companies, will no longer be owners or managers of companies engaged in the purchase and processing of agricultural products.

A new rule has been added to Act XCVII of 2025 on certain issues of the organization of agricultural product markets, producer and interprofessional organizations. Accordingly, when registering a legal entity engaged in wholesale trade or processing of agricultural products, the court of registration must take into account if the owner or senior officer has been convicted by a criminal court of bankruptcy or the crime of taking away collateral in connection with the supplier obligations for products purchased within the framework of wholesale trade of agricultural products. These individuals cannot be owners or senior officers of enterprises engaged in wholesale trade or processing of agricultural products based on court of registration proceedings starting from January next year. With the new regulatory element, the Ministry of Agriculture has found an opportunity that, based on so many unfavorable experiences of farmers, is a means of permanently eliminating unfair market players from business relations. The protection of farmers’ market position is also served by the fact that, while previously, in the event of late payment exceeding 30 days, producers could only enforce their claims before the court, from next year, when paying the price of their products beyond 30 days, the affected purchasers or distributors will be directly liable to punishment by the authorities. The Ministry of Agriculture is determined to integrate the new rules into Hungarian agricultural practice as quickly and successfully as possible, thus creating more transparent and predictable conditions.