A huge number of laws can have an effect on the functioning of a system for supplying and distributing food in urban areas. Therefore it is useful to narrow the focus: firstly by concentrating on those areas in which specific legal obstacles are preventing the development of the food marketing system (e.g. insufficiently developed laws may prevent the establishment of inventory credit systems); and secondly, by examining those areas of law which would typically have a significant effect on marketing systems.
It may be productive to consider the following categories of laws affecting the functioning of food marketing systems to determine whether or not they should be improved.
1. Laws governing who can participate in food markets and under what terms (e.g. licensing systems for various participants including wholesalers, retailers, and warehouse operators).Annex 1 sets out various questions and potential sources of legal rules which may be useful in identifying relevant rules.2. Laws applicable to the commodities traded (e.g. rules governing quality standards, the protection of public health, and packaging and labelling).
3. Laws affecting the movement of food (e.g. prohibitions on transporting certain foodstuffs; controls over how much, or how, food may be transported; and trader’s licences which are only valid for one area).
4. Laws affecting marketplaces, including the premises where food is sold (e.g. rules which: prohibit the trading of key commodities except in certain market places; prevent markets and processing facilities such as grain mills being appropriately sited in towns, restrict the dates, times and frequency with which markets are held, and establish hygiene standards).
