ROME — Italian lawmakers voted Tuesday to stiffen a legislative decree that Italian olive oil producers and other critics charged would decriminalize olive oil counterfeiting.
Commissions in both houses of Parliament approved the decree but recommended that the government ensure that criminal law prevail over administrative sanctions, such as simple fines, in cases of commercial fraud.
The decree will now return to the government, which must draft a final version. The recommendations of the commissions are not binding, but it is rare that the government does not act on them.
The decree is intended to regulate penalties for counterfeiting olive oil and its origins. One example of counterfeiting would be declaring that an oil was 100 percent Italian extra-virgin olive oil when, in fact, it contained olive oil from other countries.
As the measure had been written, olive oil producers, lobbyists and farming groups feared that it would leapfrog criminal procedures in favor of fines of up to 9,500 euros, or about $10,300, which they said were inadequate to discourage fraud that could generate millions of euros.
“The entire olive oil industry was contrary to the decree” as it had been drafted, said Colomba Mongiello, an Italian lawmaker who pushed for the changes in the decree.
Promoting authentic “made in Italy” is a priority of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s government, and “it is not the moment to lower our guard on fraud and counterfeiting,” Mongiello wrote in an email. “It is important to punish anyone who damages the image of Italy abroad.”
The commissions also voted in favor of stronger sanctions on false labeling and on a provision that would force repeat offenders to stop production for up to six months. Olive oil fraud increased sharply last year after a dismal harvest, an infestation of olive oil flies and olive tree disease.
At the same time, Italy has several expert investigative bodies tackling food fraud.
“We do more controls than anywhere else in the world here,” Mongiello said. “We care about our products.”
Alberto Grimelli, an agronomist and the editor of the website Teatro Naturale, said that in the end, the issue came down to safeguarding the reputation of products made in Italy.
“The parliamentary commissions rightly understood that the credibility of Italian olive oil rested on this decree,” he wrote, “particularly abroad, and so they asked the government to modify the text so that fraudsters are seriously dealt with.”
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