Diritto ed Economia dell'ImpresaISSN 2499-3158
G. Giappichelli Editore

29/05/2020 - Made in Italy: enhanced protection with the elimination of the “Covid free” certification.

argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: Made in Italy - elimination - emergenza sanitaria Covid – 19

In partial implementation of Directive 2019/633, not yet implemented in Italy since the deadline for Member States is the 1st of May 2021 (the draft European delegation law 2019 is under discussion in the Senate), the conversion law of the Cura decree Italy (d.l. n. 18/2020 converted into law n. 27/2020), modifying the previous version, has introduced specific rules for the protection of the Made in Italy of the agri-food sector.
The new provisions are of particular interest from a commercial point of view, since they are aimed at protecting exports of agri-food products. The regulatory intervention aims, in fact, to prevent Italian producers of food, including fish and drinks from being discriminated in international trade due to the origin of the products from a country particularly affected by the epidemic of Covid-19, which would entail an evident (and further) damage to Made in Italy and to the commercial reputation of Italian products.
Our country, in the first pandemic phase, had been penalized by the request for Covid free certifications, which were not foreseen or necessary in relation to the absence of virus contamination. The aforementioned necessary application rules were also valid for foreign customers, without being able to invoke their own legislation. The new regulation foresees (paragraph 2-ter) the application of an administrative sanction from 15,000 to 60,000 euros, unless the fact does not constitute a crime, for the contractor (who is not a final consumer) who contravenes these obligations, thus requiring unplanned certifications (referred to in paragraph 2-bis of article 78 of Legislative Decree no. 18/2020). To this end, the Central Inspectorate for the Protection of Quality and the Suppression of Fraud of Agri-Food Products of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies will be the body responsible for supervising and imposing the relative sanctions (Law 689/1981), providing to ascertain violations both ex officio and upon reporting by any interested party. The Ministry of Agricultural Policies has also created a special e-mail box to which reports of such practices can be sent.