Speech Mr. PODR, director of Velkotržnice - Lipence s.r.o.

Guide to Good Practice for Wholesale Market Authorities within the European Union – Attitude of Mr. Josef Podr, the member of WUWM and director of the Wholesale Market VELKOTRŽNICE-LIPENCE s.r.o. PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

Dear Colleagues,

The Guide to Good Practice for Wholesale Market Authorities shows the maturity of the World Union of Wholesale Markets, its ability to go with times, to hold the actual trend of creation of good practices applied by important international and national governmental and non-governmental organizations. It is favourable that our international vocational organization holds out thanks the results of its activity in the period of actual challenges of globalization.

I also consider the Guide to Good Practice as a fructification of knowledge and experience of big partnership enterprises with long-term tradition. I mention instead of all of them – and I hope the other will not take offence, since the list would be longer – the Wholesale Market in Paris – Rungis as the successor of the famous „Belly of Paris“ which also has been dealt by world literature.

These important partnership enterprises are represented by Mr. Marc Spielrein, Mr. Rolf Brauer, Mr. Michel Escoffier, Mr. Michel Ganneau, Mr. Wolf Rohde, Mr. Graham Wallace and Mr. Matthias Wegner.

The Guide to Good Practice is realistically, optimally conceived – it does not include other good practices relating to the activity of wholesale markets. It is balanced and proportional, as regards its content, extent and its form, its division into seven parts and enclosures. I point out that I was delighted by the structure, profundity and level of knowledge of the problems in Part 4 – General Presentation and Limits of Responsibility of Wholesale Market Authorities, Part 5 – Detailed Guide to Good Practice, divided in more specific chapters, Part 6 – HACCP and Part 7 – Summary – Table of Main Activities of Wholesale Market Authorities. Of course I do not want to downgrade the level of the other parts.

The Guide to Good Practice is original, among others, by the fact that it draws a map of the points of collision of competences and responsibility of the entities operating in the wholesale markets and it brings instructions for the solution of these collisions. It has preventive nature in this regard, as well.

The Guide to Good Practice is an interdisciplinary document. I see its mission in the following fields:

1. Operation and economics – by the fact that the applied know-how will bring economic savings;
2. Negotiation – in relation to partners in the wholesale market;
3. Argumentation – in relation to the national and local authorities in the following regards:

Legislation – from the point of view of creation of rules of law;
Executive – in relation to concrete administrative decisions
Control – as the instrument of argumentation in relation to the control bodies.

The Guide to Good Practice is a document suitable not only for the actual managements of wholesale markets but also for potential interested persons in enterprising in this field. It provides, besides others, instructions both for possible adaptations or reconstructions and for the construction of new wholesale markets.

Last but not least the Guide to Good Practice addresses intensification of cooperation of the World Union of Wholesale Markets with the European Commission and other European entities of food industry. It is inspiring for the wholesale markets within Central and Eastern Europe since it deals with the application of law of European Communities. It is exactly that the Czech theory and practice needs – to have the possibility to get acquainted with law of European Communities implemented in practice.

Prague, June 28, 2005

            Josef  P o d  r
Director of VELKOTRŽNICE-LIPENCE s.r.o.

The Wholesale Market of Prague was set up as the first wholesale market in the former Czechoslovakian Republic and it is the only wholesale market of this kind in the Czech Republic. It was set up in the 1991 by the reconstruction of the buildings being used for the large - scale production in agriculture by that time. Nowadays it works as a subject of private law in the region of the capital city of Prague in the area of almost 11 hectares.

Its total storage ground and sales area do more than 22 thousand m2, 7 thousand m2 of which belong to cold storages. The parking area does more than 30 thousand m2. Nowadays the Wholesale Market is a dignified and comparable subject of the wholesale trade at similar level as it is common in the countries of the European Union and of the world. The Wholesale Market - Lipence, Ltd. is a member of the World Union of the Wholesale Markets and it offers a wide range of services in the fields of the wholesale trade in perishable produce, fresh food, tined goods or frozen food, dry fruits, fresh or artificial flowers, fish products, seafood and other assortment for specialized retail trades and restaurant establishments. In one stop, retail customer can thus buy a wide range of goods he needs for carrying out his business activity.

The customers of the Wholesale Market are food chain trades, greengrocer´s shops, street stalls, restaurants, single line wholesalers and schools, hospitals and club establishments. The total turnover does more than 100 thousand tons and more than 3 billion Czech crowns in the financial statement.