COLDIRETTI, “OIL” ALARM: IF THE EU APPROVES THE “INWARD PROCESSING” PROCEDURE TO IMPORT FOREIGN OIL TEMPORARILY FOR BOTTLING IN ITALY, THE RISK IS 100 MILLION LITERS OF IMITATION OIL

If the European Union approves the procedure for Community “inward processing” (Tpa- Traffico di perfezionamento attivo), which allows the temporary importation of foreign oil to be processed and bottled in Italy and then exported out of Europe, there is a real risk that 100 million liters of foreign oil will be passed off as “Made in Italy”. Coldiretti, the Italian Farmers Union, has sounded the alarm, highlighting the risk of fraudulent behavior with the advantage of being able to by pass the obligatory rule to indicate the origin of the olives on labels.

In countries where there is no obligation to indicate the origin of olives on the label, unlike the EU, these low-quality foreign products could be passed off - according to Coldiretti - as Made in Italy, taking away market space, image and credibility from Italian crops. It would mean- Coldiretti specifies - a flood of foreign oil, representing about one fifth of Italian production, which is already strongly feeling the affect of this prospect with the collapse of prices paid at the source to the Italian olive oil producers.

According to Coldiretti, there are no valid conditions for approving inward processing (TPA) established by Regulation n.993/2001, given that this procedure should be justified by particular market situations, such as a high price differential between a common market product and one of countries outside the EU, which currently has not been verified. On the contrary - concluded Coldiretti - open borders would cause a further sharp fall in production prices that, in the face of steadily rising production costs, would increase the danger of abandoning olive groves.