Regional Government defends faster certification processes for European Union's quality schemes
The Regional Government, through the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Forestry, defends the simplification of the legal framework and faster certification processes for the existing European Union's quality schemes, as part of the European Commission's public consultation process on the assessment of geographical indications (GI, PDO and PGI) and traditional specialties guaranteed (TSG).
In the reply sent this week to Brussels, the Regional Government suggests a review of the deadlines for the analysis of applications conducted by the European Commission as well for as public consultation procedures in order to make the certification scheme for agricultural products less time consuming.
To make the certification process for a product more effective, the Regional Government proposes the establishment of single procedures for registering, amending and cancelling quality schemes.
For the Regional Government, the European Union's quality schemes are an important protection for crops and contribute to their promotion by bringing added value to producers, boosting their income and creating new business opportunities. They also contribute to the growth and modernisation of the local economy, in addition to maintaining the population in rural areas.
The controlled production guarantees the quality and genuineness of certified products, providing consumers with food safety, product traceability and sustainability.
Currently, in addition to the certification of PGI Graciosa Garlic, the certification of PDO Butter and PDO Tea is under registration, and the certification process of Annona and Banana is under analysis.
The Region also pointed out that the distribution of income between producers and the processing and marketing sectors is not proportional to the effort put into the chain by various stakeholders, considering that producers, in the majority of situations, are the most affected.