(Finance) – “We appreciate the times and ways work carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty regarding the 2024-2025 call for tendersOCM Promotion of Third Countries. In particular, given the delicate phase that the wine sector is experiencing on international markets, we believe that giving companies more time to develop strategic promotional actions represents a very significant step forward. As for the merits, even within the limits dictated by the decree in force, the Italian Wine Union believes there are significant steps forward in terms of greater flexibility”. Thus the president of the Italian Wine Union (Uiv), Lamberto Frescobaldicommented the new notice decree for OCM Promotion projects for third countries 2024-2025, presented today to the trade associations by Masaf. The provision, which will be published today well in advance of previous years in order to guarantee the start of the campaign on October 16th, provides for the extension of the deadlines for submitting projects to 60 days, which will therefore expire on October 3rd. July.
According to what was illustrated to Uiv, the notice presents simplifications starting from cost estimates, no longer necessary for food, accommodation and local transport costs, up to the elimination of the third party declaration and the limit of 5 countries per project. Other elements for improvement are represented by the reduction of institutional response times to variations (from 60 to 30 days) and the identification of objective elements in the evaluation of projects. Among the objectives for the near future, shared by Uiv with Masaf, the revision of the mother decree with the possibility of eliminating the problem of estimates by using a price list and the establishment of a new IT platform for the presentation of projects.