S?curit? sanitaire et r?f?rentiels priv?s des distributeurs: de l??vitement de la responsabilit? ? la satisfaction des obligations prescrites par la l?gislation alimentaire

Food Safety and Liability: Contractual Practices between Food Suppliers and Distributors - The food sanitary requirements are inforcing the relationships between food suppliers and distributors; these requirements are transforming their contractual practices. This article analyses the recent and deep evolution of contracts in the food chain in the light of food safety and liability regulations. It underlines the link between retailers?private standards and the challenge of liability in the UK and in France. The questions are as follows: "does the adoption of private standards reflect the implementation by retailers of a policy to avoid liability? Is the strategy identical in all countries, or does it vary with the differences between the ways legal systems address liability in each EU member nation?" The article will show that the challenges associated with liability cannot alone explain the differences in strategies observed between French and British distributors. For essentially economic reasons, it is the distributors who are the best placed to define food sanitary requirements in the food chain, and to meet obligations arising from European food law. Parole chiave: legislazione alimentare, sicurezza alimentare, contratti, fornitori alimentari, commercianti, responsabilit?. Key words: food law, food safety, contract, food suppliers, final retailers, liability.