THE FIRST YES FOR THE DECREE TO SAFEGUARD DENOMINATIONS OF ORIGIN AND GEOGRAPHIC INDICATIONS FOR WINE

The first yes has arrived from Italy’s Council of Ministries for the new legislative decree to safeguard denominations of origin and geographic indications for wine, which would result in a modification of already existing wine sector law 164/1992.
“This law creates” – explained Italian Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia – “the important goal of putting the most prestigious and important Italian agri-food sector in order, that of wine. It is a measure that aims at the safeguarding and valorizing of the quality of an excellent product from our country, establishing third party controls that will no longer be the same as the heads of the wine Consortiums, also cutting useless norms and bureaucracy…”.

17 years after law 164/1992 went into effect, the text of the most important legislation for Italian wine, is being updated. The legislative decree in question, after long efforts by the entire wine sector and local governments, has been adapted to the profound innovations recently introduced by the new European Wine CMO.

“This new law” – continued the Minister – “presents a novelty of historic importance: there will be, in fact, a third party person who will decide the quality of wines and no longer the Consortiums. If a similar measure had been established in the past, cases like that of Brunello would never have happened. This way, all those honest producers, who work seriously and with respect of the laws every day, will be safeguarded. The companies affected by this measure are a good 265,000. We must avoid repeating the scandals that have tarnished the image of Italian wine, the symbol of ‘Made in Italy’ in the world”.

Assoenologi, the organization that Minister Zaia has put at the head of the National Wine Committee, is happy as well: “This is a very important reform” – affirmed general manager, Giuseppe Martelli – “that will effectively simplify various procedures and, above all, de-bureaucratize determined sectors, eliminating a mountain of paper. For example, the new law foresees the elimination of registers for DOC vineyards and the lists of IGT vineyards, with a single declaration with the land registry. Also, the intermediary steps and bureaucracy for the quantitative declaration of production per hectare is eliminated. As well, the registration for bottlers with the Chamber of Commerce is also eliminated, given that they are already registered at ministry level. Having eliminated the traps and snares of bureaucracy is an historic step and will allow professionals to dedicate more time to production and sales”.

The road this decree must take is, however, still tortuous. The Minister of Agriculture has received a yes from the Council of Ministries and is moving ahead with its legislative scheme, which, however, does not represent the definitive text and it must be confronted with the State-Regions Conference and, successively, with Parliament, passing the scrutiny of both the Agricultural Commissions of both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. And, finally, if the measure is accepted in all of these passages, it will have to return to the Council of Ministries for definitive approval and then to the President of the Republic for promulgation.