Italy is the only country in the world to protect the agri-food heritage on the web
The agreement between Mipaaf-ICQRF, originating in Italy, Federdoc and eBay for the protection of Geographical Indications on the e-commerce platform was renewed today.
An alliance born in 2014 to combat counterfeiting and protect brands of origin and which in recent years has achieved exceptional results.
The signing of the agreement by Minister Patuanelli consolidates the existing collaboration with eBay, confirming the strategic role of the e-commerce platform in the promotion of certified quality agri-food excellences of our country and in the protection of consumers and online buyers.
With the new agreement, lasting two years, protection is also extended to product labeling profiles to verify their regularity and compliance with EU and national regulations on the subject.
"The renewal of the agreement confirms the goodness of the collaborative work carried out so far and highlights the awareness that it is necessary to create a" system "to support, encourage and protect Italian agriculture and the immense agri-food heritage of the country, while protecting, at the same time, the consumer ”, declared the Minister of Agriculture, Stefano Patuanelli. "The protection of the quality of agri-food production represents for Italy one of the main objectives of the agri-food policy, considering that our country boasts in Europe the largest number of products with the European PDO and PGI registered trademark, subject to numerous and sophisticated attempts of usurpation , imitations and evocations. Italian PDO and PGI products recognized at European level as intellectual property rights deserve the same protection and protection as the most famous brands in the world. Guaranteeing the protection of our products is a contribution to the transparency of the market, to the defense of consumer rights but it is also a contribution to the enhancement of the important work that our farmers and our production companies carry out every day ".
“At eBay, we strongly believe in the importance of enhancing Made in Italy products by facilitating their promotion, accessibility and internationalization. The renewal of the agreement allows us to continue this important path aimed at guaranteeing the highest safety standards for Italian excellence within our marketplace. We are happy to renew this commitment today and continue the fruitful collaboration with the Ministry, the Department of the Central Inspectorate for the protection of quality and repression of agri-food products and the Protection Consortia, to advance towards a common goal: that of guaranteeing deserved recognition. and protection of products of excellence in the Italian food sector ”, says Alice Acciarri, General Manager of eBay in Italy.
Thanks to the intense control work of the ICQRF (Central Inspectorate for the protection of quality and the repression of fraud of agri-food products), with an operational task force that operates daily, orders and products that usurp, imitate or evoke quality products with geographical indication , are promptly reported directly to eBay's intellectual property protection system and removed after a very short time.