Legal documents

A G R E E M E N T
on cooperation

National Dairy Producers Union (SOUZMOLOKO) and the Association of Retail Companies (AKORT), hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

AIMED AT:

creating sustainable and effective cooperation between Retail Networks and the Suppliers of milk and dairy products (hereinafter referred to as dairy products) in order to provide the Consumers with high quality food products at reasonable prices, at the same time following the basic competition rules of wholesale and retail markets;

increasing the market volume of high-quality domestic dairy products and their effective sales;

reaching and maintaining physical and economic availability of healthy domestic dairy products for every citizen of the country, in volumes and variety according to existing rational norms of food consumption necessary for an active and healthy life;

increasing competitiveness of Russian dairy producers;

creating an effectively functioning produce market that will provide for the increase in the returns of the Suppliers of domestic dairy products and the Retail networks selling the said products, the development of their infrastructure due to the implementation of innovative logistic, merchandise and other marketing technologies and the reduction of production costs while maintaining or decreasing the present market price level;

BASED ON:

common interest of the Parties to build the relationships between the Suppliers of dairy products and the Retail networks on good will and cooperation;

the Parties’ strive to create a civilized business intercourse, particularly between the Suppliers of dairy products and the Retail networks;

BEING INTERESTED IN:

establishing the relationships between the Suppliers of dairy products and the Retail networks based on justified and equal approach to any dairy products Supplier;

increasing the transparency of standards and relationships between the Suppliers of dairy products and the Retail networks;

CONSIDERING the provisions of clause 12 of the Federal law “On basic principles of state regulation of trade activities in the Russian Federation” ¹ 381-ÔÇ dated December 28, 2009,

have concluded the present Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) on the following:

1. The Subject of the Agreement 1.1. In the framework of the present Agreement the Parties undertake to join their efforts aimed at the harmonization of the interests of Bona Fide dairy products Suppliers and Retail networks, based on the principles of transparency and honesty, in order to provide the end users with the products of the quality and prices matching the standards of active legislation of the Russian Federation.

1.2. In order to reach the goals set, the Parties form an expert consulting group that consists of the representatives of the participants of the present Agreement, and, when necessary, the representatives of SOUZMOLOKO and AKORT members. The main objectives of the group are:

1.2.1. To develop and to register the unified trade marks of SOUZMOLOKO and AKORT, under which the dairy products of respective price categories, supplied (produced) by SOUZMOLOKO members, shall be sold through Retail networks participating in AKORT. The said trade marks can be used licensed to any interested dairy suppliers or retail networks that are not the members of SOUZMOLOKO or AKORT.

1.2.2. To develop and to implement the advertizing strategy for the said trade marks in order to position them among wide range of consumers as unmistakable brands of domestic dairy products that guarantee high quality of the product disregarding its price category, use of only natural domestic components in its production and the best combination of price and quality.

1.2.3. To develop and to implement a program on complex dairy products consumption promotion among the population, including social advertisement, annual federal festival “Dairy country”, etc, involving other unions and retail networks when necessary.

1.2.4. To control the prices and quality of dairy products bearing the said unified trademarks in order to discover mala fide suppliers and retail networks and to bring the information on the said suppliers and retailers to the attention of general public, and, when necessary, - to the attention of relevant administrative authorities.

1.2.5. To monitor the implementation of the clauses of the Federal law “On basic principles of state regulation of trade activities in the Russian Federation” ¹ 381-ÔÇ dated December 28, 2009, concerning the subject of the present Agreement.

1.2.6. To find suitable ways for further development of Russian dairy products market, including the development and presentation of relevant suggestions on the said issue to the government regulatory bodies.

1.3. Specifications of the activities mentioned above, terms and ways of their implementation, terms and amounts of funding necessary, etc, are regulated by the Addenda of the Parties.

2. The Liabilities of the Parties

2.1. In order to achieve the goals of the present Agreement the Parties undertake the following:

2.1.2. To create the expert consulting group named in clause 1.2. of this Agreement, and to provide funding for its activities in coherent amounts, including the funding of its activities on social advertisement campaign on dairy products consumption promotion.

2.1.2. To take an active part in discussions of the issues concerning the subject of the present Agreement and development of necessary decisions on their implementation.

2.1.3. To exchange the information necessary for reaching the goals and objectives stipulated by the Agreement.

2.1.4. To perform any other activities in order to reach the goals and objectives stipulated by the Agreement.

3. Duration of the Agreement

3.1. The present Agreement is concluded for a period of 5 (five) years and becomes effective upon signing.

3.2. Any of the Parties can terminate the present Agreement unilaterally in case said Party fulfills all of its liabilities according to the Addenda, including the liabilities to provide funding for certain activities.

3.3. The Party terminating the present Agreement must send a written notification to the other Party 30 days prior to the Agreement termination date.

3.4. The Party initiating premature termination of the Agreement should compensate the other Party’s premature termination losses.

4. Other Provisions

4.1. The Parties have a right to conclude separate agreements with third parties in order to reach the goals of the present Agreement.

4.2. Should any additional liabilities of the Parties or the issues not settled by the present Agreement be discovered in the course of the performance of the present Agreement, the Parties undertake to discuss those actualities and make necessary amendments and additions.

4.3. Any amendments, additions and attachments to the present Agreement are valid only if they are made in written form, signed by authorized representatives of the Parties and are integral parts of the present Agreement.

4.4. The present Agreement defines the main principles of cooperation and interaction between the Parties, and does not constrain the Parties of the Agreement from cooperating with any other organizations and does not seek to limit their activities in any way.

4.5. The present Agreement is made in two copies of equal legal force, one copy for each of the Parties.


Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retail Companies (AKORT)
Lev Hasis


Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Dairy Producers Union (SOUZMOLOKO)
Andrei Danilenko