Description
The PAT were established pursuant to Article 8, paragraph 1 of Legislative Decree No. 173 of 1998, which sanctions the importance of enhancing the gastronomic heritage and introduces the notion of traditional product as a type of product intended for the human diet and strictly conditioned by factors such as tradition, territory, raw materials and production techniques; the PAT denomination, in other words, offers consumers guarantees in terms of product typicality, linking production and processing to specific traditional methods.
In 1999, the MiPAAF, with Ministerial Decree no. 350 of 08/09/99, issued the regulation containing the norms for the identification of traditional agro-food products pursuant to art. 8 of Legislative Decree no. 173 of 1998 and delegated to the regions the task of establishing special regional lists, thus limiting itself to a control activity only (through the establishment of a special national list of traditional agro-food products and updated annually with the contribution of the regions).
Large-scale consultation led to the initial identification of more than 66 'traditional' products at provincial level, which were subsequently included in the national list of traditional agri-food products approved in July 2000. In the years that followed, other agri-food products were added to arrive at the current 105 (updated to 2022) as shown in the 22nd ministerial revision published on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture Food Sovereignty and Forestry (MASAF).
The Agricultural Production Protection Office of the PAT Rural Development Policy Service is responsible for managing and updating the list of traditional agri-food products.
Procedure:
Given that the inclusion of an agri-food product in the provincial list of traditional products is optional, recognition of the product takes place following the submission of an application, to be forwarded by interested parties, to the relevant provincial administration.
The provincial administration examines the documentation (Dossier), if necessary requesting integrations and clarifications, verifies the congruity of the data, updates the data, giving reasons for any refusals.
The provincial administration may autonomously identify traditional agri-food products.
Timing:
Given that the national list of traditional agri-food products is updated once a year, applications may be submitted throughout the year by interested parties.
DOCUMENTATION
Requests for new entries:
The responsibility for the information contained in the application lies with the signatory(s) of the application.
The following must be attached to the request
- the product characteristics sheet;
- a historical report certifying that the production methods are practised in the territory in a homogeneous manner and in accordance with traditional rules and protracted over time, in any case for a period of not less than twenty-five years;
- the historical report is accompanied by documentation (e.g. historical literary or bibliographical citations, anecdotes or recurrences, interviews, films and anything else useful), brochures or other popular or promotional material, posters and flyers from fairs or festivals, invoices or other
administrative documents justifying the production;
- a brief economic report that allows even a summary assessment of the current situation of the product;
- recent pictures of the product if available, and of the production process, if any;
Request for modification:
The request must be duly substantiated.
The following must be attached to the request
- description and justification of the modification,
- the duly revised product identification sheet.
Modification requests are evaluated by the competent provincial service, in order to safeguard the traditional character of the product; therefore they must not be modifications that could distort the peculiar characteristics of the product.
CLOSURE OF PRELIMINARY ENQUIRIES, APPROVAL OF PRELIMINARY RESULTS AND COMMUNICATION
Within 60 days from the presentation of the application for registration/amendment in the provincial list of traditional agri-food products, the person in charge of the procedure prepares and approves the results of the preliminary investigation by means of a managerial decision. The decision is communicated by PEC to the applicants.