Dear Partner,
We appreciate your cooperation with MAXIMA LT, UAB, based on your professionalism and goodwill. We would like to note again some of the relevant requirements of legal enactments and notify you once more of the changes related to standard agreements. If you consider the following information irrelevant to you and none of the following provisions are mentioned in the supply agreement entered into with our Company, we apologize for the inconvenience. However, if, during our cooperation, you will have any questions on the return of food, please contact the commercial manager responsible for the category of the goods you supply or to the Process and Quality Management Department of MAXIMA LT, UAB (kokybe@maxima.lt).
As you know, the existing legal enactments set forth the restrictions related to the return of certain food. Our Company, as well as some other retailers, is forbidden to return to the suppliers the following goods supplied by them and accepted by us: (i) perishable food, and (ii) unsafe, low-quality food, and (iii) food with the expiry time of 1/3 of the established shelf-life (hereinafter all the food are together referred to as “Non-returnable food”). We would also like to note that the goods delivered by the supplier that are not in conformity with the requirements of the supply agreement and/or the order, and which we refuse to accept at the time of their delivery by issuing a debit VAT invoice are not considered to be the acceptable goods.
Due to the statutory requirements, standard form of the supply agreements entered into before June 2013 contained the following provisions related to the return of goods: “During the entire period the Goods are in possession of the Buyer and in case if the Goods have a fixed shelf-life – during this period the Buyer must check the conformity of the Goods to the requirements of the Agreement and notify the Seller of any identified defects. In this case, the Buyer has the right to return the Goods or to require to replace them with the Goods that are in conformity with the requirements of the Agreement or to demand to reduce the price of the Goods” (Section VI Paragraph 21 the Agreement); “the Buyer shall also be entitled to return the Goods for other reasons (shelf-life of the Goods will end soon, the Goods are on low demand, etc.), and the Seller shall be obliged to take them back” (Chapter VI Paragraph 22 of the Agreement). New standard supply agreements entered into after June 2013 do not contain the aforementioned provisions. We also remind you that, at the moment, negotiations on signing of a new standard supply agreement are in progress.
During the negotiations and in the course of mutual cooperation we have emphasized more times that the provisions of the aforesaid agreement, providing for the right of MAXIMA LT, UAB to return certain goods, were and are applied only to manufactured goods and non-perishable packaged, safe and high-quality food. Meanwhile the aforementioned provisions of the agreement were and are not applied to the Non-returnable food.
Moreover, we would like to notify you that MAXIMA LT, UAB has accepted and continually applies internal instructions and procedures all employees of the supply chain are aware of, which insistently prohibit returning to suppliers the Non-returnable food, and the cases of the return of Non-returnable food have never been tolerated. Our company has always made and makes maximum efforts to ensure appropriate implementation of legal enactments regulating the return of food. All of that enables ensuring professional and based on mutual trust cooperation between MAXIMA LT, UAB and its suppliers.
Do not hesitate to contact the commercial manager of the Company responsible for the category of the goods you supply in case of any questions regarding the aforementioned provisions of the supply agreement or other questions related to the return of goods, he/she will kindly provide you with necessary information. At the same time, we would like to note that in case of requests of our employees to accept Non-returnable food, make sure to notify thereof the Process and Quality Management Department (kokybe@maxima.lt). The requirements of this kind cannot be satisfied to avoid creating any legal consequences both to your company and to MAXIMA LT, UAB.
Thank you in advance for your contribution to the appropriate and unconditional implementation of the requirements of legal enactments.
MAXIMA LT