Progress expected on the implementation of the legislation on the OQT “mountain product” in Italy

On February 24, 2017, Elisabetta Parravicini, Vice-President of Euromontana and President of member organization ERSAF (Ente Regionale per i Servizi all’Agricoltura e alle Foreste), presented Euromontana’s work and future objectives at a meeting on Italian mountains as driving forces for development. Elisabetta Parravicini began by recounting the history and outlining the objectives of the organization emphasizing Euromontana’s goal of improving the quality of life of people living in the mountain areas of Europe. She discussed Euromontana’s work at the European level to promote European policies for mountain areas, for example through agreement on a common definition of what it means to be a mountain area, through rural development and agricultural policies, through the Cohesion policy, and through efforts to encourage a specific agenda for mountain areas.

Importantly, during the meeting, Elisabetta Parravicini spoke with the Vice-Minister of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture about mountain products and the importance of clarifying the national rules regarding the implementation of the EU regulation N°1151/2012 and the delegated act N°665/2014 that protect mountain products. The implementation of the delegated act has been stalled in the Ministry of Agriculture for months, but the Vice-Minister stated that soon the Ministry will present its decisions regarding the implementation and regulation of the term in Italy. He was inspired by Elisabetta Parravicini’s talk which emphasized the importance of protecting Italy’s mountain areas and the populations that live in them. His statement that a decision will soon be released is important as once the rules are made clear, farmers will be able to more securely use the term and consumers buying mountain products can be more confident in their purchase. For more information, see the recently published study on the implementation of the optional quality term “prodotto di montagna” across different regions in Italy (published in English and Italian) available here.