THE NEW “REGULATIONS FOR THE CONTROL PLAN OF DENOMINATION OF ORIGIN AND GEOGRAPHIC INDICATION WINES” ARE “ABSURD, ONEROUS AND DANGEROUS”, SAYS ARMANDO BOTTEON, EDITOR (FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS) OF THE MAGAZINE “WINE LEGISLATION”

The new “regulations” law (Decree Law No. 61 of 8 April 2010) regarding Italian wines went into effect recently, on May 11th. Armando Botteon, editor of the magazine “Wine Legislation” for the past 30 years, highlighted his criticism of it (see http://www.winenews.it/index.php?c=detail&id=19313&dc=15).
Armando Botteon, expert on wine legislation lamented the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the new “control plan instructions for designation of origin and geographical indication wines”.
The draft of the law had not been widely circulated considering it affects 700,000 among growers, wine makers and bottlers. Botteon’s highly critical statement of the new control plan is based on a few immediate observations: “the quality of wines released for consumption is good and constantly improving; the fraud phenomenon in certain areas has been reduced and on the whole is not a troubling issue. Anyway, it can be easily blocked with more careful controls (bad apples are easy to find on the market - just pay more attention to prices and then trace them through the free checks that state-controlled services supply); the current decline in prices is in itself a major deterrent to fraud; there is an excellent and comprehensive EU regulation on the traceability of wines, considered sufficient by the other Member States; this economic period does not allow distractions and fanaticism, because each management constraint and any extra spending imposed on the Italian wineries is a gift to foreign competition”.
The way the new control plan has been drawn up demonstrates how “absurd, dangerous and onerous it is”, Botteon stresses, because “the control system delegated to certain certification organisms in Italy, functions only halfway, since the latter only check products classified DOP / IGP but cannot examine the physical inventory of generic wines, nor demand that their records and other documentation be presented. In addition to this critical deficiency, there is also the failure to extend controls on the movement of the cellars after bottling and the basic checks outside the cellar, which are known to be where the most glaring irregularities have been reported”.
The new control plan in fact extends the DOC / DOCG system to the great mass of IGT wines “disproportionate to the modest quality and prices of IGT wines,” notes Botteon, “now sometimes less than 1 euro per liter. The wineries cannot take on additional costs to strengthen their internal organization in view of the new bureaucratic fees nor pay for charges that will be billed by the inspectors. In general, the new mechanism proposed in the control plan for IGT,” continues Botteon, “is far more complex than might appear at first, and it also imposes documentary controls on 100% of all documentation”.
Even the situation regarding costs of fines is quite nebulous, Botteon explains: “rates in the first plans were pre-fixed between a minimum and a maximum”. In the new plan, however, the minimum and maximum have been “deleted to benefit transparency, leaving businesses at the mercy of agreements that will be decided in closed rooms among the leaders of the certification organisms and Mipaaf, Ministry of agricultural, food and forestry policies”. The certification organisms have also been financially privileged,” continues Botteon, “the company pays first, and then receives the certification. A true tax imposition masked by a tariff rate. This system lacks transparency and only the direct intervention of Minister Galan can restore the correct balance.
“The system imposed from above is not motivated by actual needs,” concludes Botteon, “and the stakes are not small. With the new system the quality of life of all farmers, wine makers, bottlers and the most vulnerable businesses will be damaged: it could be the beginning of the end. The sad legacy the former Minister left on these sensitive issues can be eased only by the new Minister Galan and we must hope that someone requests his personal and quick attention to this matter”.