With the task of protecting consumers as well as serious agricultural businesses, the Committee presented at Expo Milano 2015 the guidelines, ahead of the deadline set by legislative decree as July 31, that will form the basis for defining reforms relating to crimes committed in the agribusiness. The presentation of the work was coordinated by the Commission President, Attorney Gian Carlo Caselli. Also attending were the Minister of Justice, Andrea Orlando, and the Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forest Policies, Maurizio Martina.

 

We need better weapons against a parallel business

 

“Regulations on this subject are often uneven, so the first necessity is to create clarity,” commented Minister Orlando. “Second, we need proper tools for a phenomenon that has changed over the years and that often assumes the dimensions of a parallel business.”

 

“This is one of the most important legacies of the Universal Exposition, as well as one of the most complex,” stated Minister Martina. “It is obvious that we are dealing with crimes that are difficult to prove but that also carry penalties that can be quite low. Our work will be to the advantage of production systems, which must be able to act within a reliable framework, and thus in view of reorganization and simplification.”

 

Gian Carlo Caselli explained that the Commission’s job has been divided into different working groups, which have to act within a multi-layered and disorganized existing system to bring greater clarity and consistency to the laws and maintain a high level of protection for health.

Raffaele Guariniello: the time is ripe for a national prosecutor or agency

The coordinators of the sub-groups (Alberto Gargani, Massimo Donini, Raffaele Guariniello and Pierluigi Di Stefano) then outlined their own specific contributions.

 

Raffaele Guariniello’s operation will be especially shattering. “The time is ripe,” the magistrate stated, “to create a national prosecutor or agency specializing in agribusiness crimes to protect consumers and companies, otherwise we risk repeating the same old problem of too many regulations that can be violated with impunity because of the lack of coordination between the relevant bodies.”

 

Caselli concluded by reminding everyone that the Commission’s next meeting to finalize the details is set for September 8, and he went on to give a long list of characteristics that this new legal section should have: “Not rigid but modern, modulated, multi-faceted; not timid but pragmatic; not monotonous but constitutional, routine, and versatile.”