Spain's Vending Association Warns Healthy Eating Decree Would Cost 2,000 Jobs

Spain's national vending association is asking the government to rewrite a pending royal decree on healthy eating, warning that applying it as drafted would eliminate roughly 2,000 jobs and cut close to 18 million euros a year in fees paid by operators in public centers. Aneda, the Asociación Nacional Española de Distribuidores Automáticos, said vending activity in public centers generates about 60 million euros annually in fees. Strict application of the new rule would reduce that by some 18 million, eight million of it from hospitals and health and social care centers, putting direct and indirect jobs at risk. The decree, promoted by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, would govern healthy and sustainable eating in public and health and social care centers, and could reach the Council of Ministers imminently. Aneda said the draft has legal problems and does not assess its impact on self-employed workers and small businesses. "A rule approved in haste and with legal problems that are evident in its own processing is not going to improve anyone's health: it is going to generate litigation, empty machines and less service for those who need it most," said Aneda general director Yolanda Carabante. The association noted that in many hospitals and residences vending machines are the only food service available at night, on weekends or when cafeterias are closed, and it argued the new obligations should be achievable with the current machine fleet. Aneda has asked for the adaptation period to extend to 24 months rather than the 12 months set in the text. For operators, the dispute is a preview of the compliance costs that healthy-default rules carry: planogram overhauls, equipment changes and more frequent replenishment, all concentrated on small operators with the least financial room. Source: Demócrata — https://www.democrata.es/en/economy/the-vending-sector-demands-changes-to-the-healthy-eating-decree-to-avoid-the-loss-of-2-000-jobs-and-18-million-annually/