The volume is a collection of Italian regulations governing DOP and IGP products edited by Antonello Colosimo, the Head of the Cabinet of the Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and the Secretary of AICIG, Pier Maria Saccani.
The Geographical Indications Code published by AICIG in cooperation with MIPAAF was presented this morning, during Minister Mario Catania’s end-of-year press conference in the Cavour Room of the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. “DOP and IGP products,” said Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies Mario Catania,” is the diamond tip of Italy’s agro-alimentary industry.”
The volume, prepared by the Head of the Cabinet of the Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and the Secretary of AICIG, Pier Maria Saccani, is an exhaustive collection of Italian regulations governing DOP and IGP products and is the result of a common desire to protect excellent Italian agro-alimentary products. “The high fragmentation of Italian regulations due to sudden changes dictated by Community regulations,” said Antonello Colosimo, the Head of the Minister’s Cabinet, “created the need of industry operators, whether protection consortia, producers or law enforcement bodies, for a practical, easy-to-use tool that would provide up-to-date information about current rules.”
This publication is part of the general effort that must be made “to make the public and decision-makers aware of the importance of agriculture and”, Catania continued, “in fact, it is an industry that should not be considered residual or actually subsidized. The role of agricultural businesses in Italy’s territory and economy is anything but secondary or linked to the past.”
“The Geographical Indications Code is a small part of a long, structured path, begun by Minister Romano and ending with the current Minister Catania,” commented AICIG President Giuseppe Liberatore, who spoke during the press conference as the representative of the Association of Consortia, “and it has profound meaning, in addition to having great practical utility for all industry operators, because it testifies to the link between the Ministry and the consortia. In fact, the work done and concluded with this publication shows how a correct synergy can lead to practical, useful results for the entire industry and being here today,” Liberatore added, “gives me the opportunity to give MIPAAF credit for how it handles DOP and IGP production – the diamond tip of our agro-alimentary production and a wonderful calling card for Made in Italy abroad – which is to say, with great sensitivity and, especially, for how it promotes the role of the protection consortia. We need to continue in this direction for the growth of Italy’s agro-alimentary industry.”
The publication of the volume (which will shortly be downloadable from HYPERLINK “http://www.politicheagricole.it” www.politicheagricole.it as a PDF) comes in the wake of the recent success obtained with the approval of the milk package in Brussels (with particular reference to provisions that allow Consortia to regulate production volumes for the dairy industry but that may soon be extended to all DOP and IGP production), concrete evidence of the good operation of the Italian “DOP system”. In addition to introducing the volume prepared by MIPAAF and AICIG, the purpose of Minister Catania’s end-of-year press conference was to explain the programmatic guidelines for government action on behalf of agriculture and to summarize the activities carried out in a European context in the light of the latest Council of Ministers of Agriculture and Fishing.
AICIG – Italian Association of Geographical Indication Consortia
