RUCIP: New internal structure, European Delegate and rules

February 04, 2021

A press release from February 1^st discloses that a new internal organisation will aim to maintain the continuity and professionalism of RUCIP – Rules & Practices of the Inter-European Trade in Potatoes. Next to that, Cristina Pohlmann, Assistant to the Director of the Deutscher Kartoffelhandelsverband e.V. (DKHV), has been appointed as the new RUCIP European Delegate.

Revamped internal structure

In 2017, the location of the RUCIP European Secretariat changed to European Potato Trade Association Europatat’s office in Brussels. This move was meant to improve the functioning of RUCIP, offer better services and professionalise the management of its different activities. To maintain these objectives, the RUCIP European Committee has now revamped its internal structure, making a distinction between the European Secretariat and the European Delegate Office, also meaning that the Secretary General of Europatat will no longer be the European Delegate for RUCIP. Whilst the European Secretariat remains in charge of the day-to-day administration of the RUCIP European Committee (including finances, communication and organisation of meetings and trainings), the European Delegate will handle expertise and arbitration requests out of the European Delegate Office. Her responsibilities include dealing with 1st degree arbitration requests and expertise requests from countries without a national secretariat, dealing with 2nd degree arbitration requests, supporting the RUCIP Secretariat with the preparation of the budget and participating in meetings of the Europatat RUCIP Commission and its Working Groups.

Modernised RUCIP rules

Newly appointed RUCIP European Delegate Pohlmann has been working for DKHV since 2015 and is currently running the German RUCIP Office for expert assessments and the German “Berliner Vereinbarung” Arbitration Office. “She perfectly masters the RUCIP rules, has an extensive experience in managing arbitration cases and also participates in the meetings of the RUCIP Working Group devoted to the modernisation of the current rules”, a press release states. The updated RUCIP rules (including a revamped organigram and a new Annex with the position description and responsibilities of the European Secretariat and the European Delegate) were generated to make sure trading behaviour and the Rules and Practices of the potato sector continue to adapt to the economic evolution of Europe. These rules are applicable from January 2021 and available in several languages via the website of RUCIP.

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