Law provides the foundations for the existence of food
marketing systems and is essential for their continued development. Furthermore,
legislation is probably the most important tool available to states for
regulating a marketing system and changing how it functions in order to achieve
socially desirable goals
This paper argues that:
- legal issues are fundamental to reforming systems for supplying and distributing
food to urban areas and should be specifically addressed;
- a careful analysis of how laws and regulatory systems actually function
is essential for rational policy development;
- the liberalization of food marketing systems challenges legal reformers
to move away from laws designed to maximise state control and to actively
seek ways of creating a legal environment which will facilitate the effective
participation of the private sector; and
- states should involve the private sector in the process of legal reform.
