The Chamber of Food Marketing and Distribution (MIDA) filed a lawsuit in federal court on Thursday to stop the enactment of the new tariffs recently approved by the Negotiated Transportation and Other Public Services (NTSP) in order to protect existing contractual agreements for the transportation of food and avoiding an increase in food costs that will impact the pockets of consumers.
The lawsuit seeks to have the regulation and circular letter of the NTSP, which institutes the new tariffs, declared null and void, as well as the declaration of a permanent interdict preventing the government from issuing sanctions for alleged non-compliance. .
“We have taken this urgent legal action, having exhausted all avenues, with a view to protecting the pockets of consumers and stopping another disproportionate increase in the operating costs of the food industry in Puerto Rico,” he said. declare the Lic. Manuel Reyes Alfonso, Executive Vice President of the organization, in written statements.
He added that the actions of the NTSP are in violation of the Promise Act, as the circular letter was not submitted to the Fiscal Oversight Board previously for review and approval. Also, the rates are in contrast to the Fiscal Plan approved for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
According to Reyes, there is misinformation because it is not a question of increasing tariffs that already existed but of imposing a new system of tariffs on sectors that operated under private contracts negotiated in the free market for the benefit of both parties and especially consumers. So far from deregulating what was regulated as ordered by the Fiscal Plan, the authority of the NTSP is expanding and dramatically changing the way we do business in our economy. The resulting rise that the government intends to implement is to the detriment of the food industry and therefore consumers, who will be affected by any increase in prices resulting from the application of the new tariffs.
“When the NTSP imposed temporary transport tariffs in December it did so by ignoring existing trade relations between independent carriers and food businesses. No serious analysis was made of the impact of a change in this Historically, the Public Service Commission, the predecessor of the NTSP, had respected these relations, excluding them from its regulatory tariffs because they were the same agreed between two private entities, the carrero and the trader. “It is absurd, and defeats the purpose of private contracts, to try to apply tariffs designed for individual trips when thousands of trips are contracted, offering guarantees and certainty to transport companies,” said Reis Alfonso.
We recommend:
The MIDA spokesman stressed that the tariffs included in the new NTSP regulations did not take into account the operation of the food distribution industry. He explained that the scaffolding of food distribution and transportation is a complex in which companies contract individually with independent truck owners.
Likewise, payments to carriers are based on the amount of boxes or “bumps” delivered to retailers. Rates vary depending on the location of the stores to receive merchandise, and the type of cargo to be delivered: dry, fresh, refrigerated or frozen. Other factors also influence recruitment, such as the weight and size of the packages. Freight delivery trips involve multiple stops at different stores and municipalities.
He clarified that this hiring is typically reviewed annually so it is also incorrect to allege that rates have not changed in 15 years but have been adjusted much more efficiently than any regulatory process.
“They have created a problem where there was none. The industry has always had a good relationship with its thousands of careers which is evidenced by trade relations that last for decades. Any party in a negotiation can aspire to more but it is this negotiation process which ensures efficiency in the supply chain for the benefit of the consumer.These increases would add to those already imposed by the operators of the docks with which the government has not wanted to intervene, those of electricity and international that we do not control We urgently call on Governor Pierluisi to listen to the food industry, to defend consumers from these increases, and to allow us to clear up the confusion caused by a small sector that does not represent the entire food industry. private transportation, ”Kings said.
The appeal filed by MIDA is the second filed by private sector entities in relation to this regulation having the Chamber of Commerce filed another in the local Court of Appeal at the end of January.