For over a decade, and it is certainly not a question of the last few years, the regulatory provisions issued by MASAF with reference to the national organic sector have always been characterised by a punitive attitude towards operators and unfortunately some associations/organisationsboth in the sector and beyond, have shared this approach in a completely incomprehensible way. The greatest evidence of this was seen with the D. Lgs.vo 20/2018 replaced by D. Lgs.vo 148/2023. We have never made any concessions on this matter and we have always, in a correct and detailed manner, highlighted the negative aspects for the sector as we have limited them in the last newsletter with reference to the draft of decree on contamination (see news).
I return to the latter to examine in more detail some aspects correlating them with the sector regulatory provisions already promulgated. The draft Ministerial Decree is based, atArt. 1on the concept of presence of prohibited substances which then in its articulated form comes limited to the presence of pesticide residues only while the Reg UE 848/2018 does not limit it to these substances only. In the case of the presence of a non-permitted substance, the proposed regulation requires that,so that the integrity of the organic product is not compromised, the source and cause of such presence are clearly identified and such presence is accidental and technically unavoidable.
Now, if the source and cause have been identified, how can such presence be considered accidental or technically inevitable? In the event that the cause and source of such presence have been identified, Regulation 848 in art. 28 imposes proportionate and adequate measures aimed at preventing such contamination under penalty of the adoption of sanctions by the certification body. (O. in C.).
In this respect, the proposal is not consistent with Community legislation. Furthermore, the concepts of accidentality and technical inevitability referred to in the draft, in the case of the presence of only one residue (by accidentality we mean the unpredictability and the exclusion that such an event will be repeated, and due to technical inevitability that the circumstances are beyond the operator’s control and that it is environmental contaminationthe official investigation by theO. in C. becomes extremely complex and expensive and It is unlikely to lead to the maintenance of the organic product indication. This results in a damage both for the organic sector as a whole and for the individual operator.
Among other things the fact that these are circumstances beyond the control of the operator is connected to what is foreseen in the DM “non-conformity” on the subject of “intentionality” because they are either extraneous or intentional. It is recalled, in this regard, that the non-compliance DM introduces the burden for the organic operator to demonstrate the non-intentionality of the non-compliances since this Ministerial Decree presumes that all non-conformities are intentional since, most likely, MASAF has identified in the Italian organic operator some situations which inevitably make him a “serial fraudster” and, therefore, worthy of particular attention. In organic farming, you are guilty until proven otherwise.: simply absurd and defamatory for the sector.
At the moment in which, both with presences lower and higher than 0.01 ppm, theO. in C. certifies that the presence is not accidental and technically unavoidable, as a result of the application of the recently promulgated Ministerial Decree concerning non-conformities, l‘O in C. is required to apply serious and/or critical non-conformities with measures that, when things go well, lead to the suppression of organic indications and, by virtue of Legislative Decree 148/2023 in art. 24 paragraph 5, an administrative sanction of up to 5% of the turnover and in any case variable between 6,000 and 100,000 euros or, by virtue of art. 24 paragraph 6, a sanction equal to 2% of the turnover and in any case variable between 2,000 and 100,000 euros.
This is all part of the “special treatment” that our national legislation reserves for the Italian organic sector with the aim of ensuring its development by virtue of the advantage that consumers thus reserve for the national sector (among the considerations of the draft Ministerial Decree on contamination). In fact This “treatment” translates into an increase in costs, with a reduction in competitiveness, and a progressive distrust of agricultural companies. with a high turn-over of the same due to the progressive increase in bureaucracy and related costs. This aspect is particularly serious at a time when the prices of organic agricultural products are low and hardly guarantee an adequate income.
Fabrizio Piva