The economic evolution of Europe requires an on-going adaptation of trading behaviour and in particular of the Rules and Practices of the potato sector.
The first European rules were established, as early as 1956. Through the efforts of the European Union for the Wholesale Trade in Potatoes – now Europatat – professional practices were defined and a simple and efficient procedure for expert assessments and arbitration, known ever since by RUCIP, has been set up.
The formation in 1964 of the European RUCIP Committee, made up by Europatat and the Co-operatives of the European Confederation of Agriculture (C.E.A.), whose representative responsibilities had been taken over by Intercoop Europe, provided the justification for a new edition of RUCIP. This was taken in hand by the Committee who filled up various gaps that had become apparent through trade practice. However, RUCIP had been set up only for trade between countries and could not be used for transactions within national boundaries.
After the European Union of Potato Processing Industries joined the European RUCIP Committe in 1970, it was the common wish of these two organisations completed with the European Union of the Potato Processing Industries EUPPA, to standardise the different national codes, having in view a common European market and taking into account the developments in the economic situation of potatoes.
This led to the revision of the Rules and Practices including the rules governing expert assessments and arbitration in 1972, 1986, 2000 and 2006. A profound revision was made and came into force on 1 March 2012.
The most recent edition – RUCIP 2017 – focus strictly on the transfer of the European secretariat from Paris to Brussels and on the possibility to create European lists of Experts and Arbitrators for the countries that do not have a National RUCIP secretariat. It became effective on 1 January 2017.
Without cancelling any national rules, which is in any case not within their power, the two professional organisations:
- Europatat (Rue de Trèves 49-51 box 8, B-1040 Brussels)
- EUPPA (Avenue de Tervueren 188A, Box 4, B-1150 Brussels)
who make up the RUCIP European Committee, recommend all their members to use the current Rules and Practices, and the Rules governing expert assessments and arbitration for their national, as well as their European transactions. The code name of these rules and practices – under which they have been tried and tested – remains RUCIP.
National RUCIP secretariats are located the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
