Overview of the quality policy in Macedonia.

Prof. Sonja Srbinovska,

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and food, SS Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje

28-30 January 2019 Skopje

Rural development – SEE countries

❑ Most of the population in Macedonia, but also in other SEE countries living in

rural areas

❑ Farming and forestry remain crucial for land use and the management of

natural resources in the rural areas There for IT SHOULD BE A PLATFORM FOR

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION IN RURAL COMMUNITIES.

❑ Many of our rural areas have significant challenges. SEE countries give usessential raw materials, a lot of traditional specific products. Wonderfullandscape which is valuable for rest and recreation and tourism development.

❑ There for our farming businesses need to build their competitiveness

❑ Our countries need an active rural development policy because this will help usto achieve valuable goals for rural areas and for the people who live and workthere.

❑ Strengthening of rural development policy is an overall priority.

Geographical indications can be

designed as

system of protection (to the consumer and the farmer);

marketing tool (emphasizing the difference from a product or service);

rural development mechanism (since it can influence on the generation and

maintenance of employment, income distribution, local identity, etc.); and

means of preservation (of culture, know/how, and even ingredients).

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• Government is interested for rural development and protection agricultural products

• Low for rural development (49/2010; 53/2011, 126/2012, 15/2013 и 69/2013).

• Low for Agriculture Product Quality 140/2010 53/2011, 55/2012, 106/2013, 116/2015, 149/2015 и 193/2015),

• By-lows according Gis and TSG (2011,2012,2013)

• Institutional building – implementation /still weak

Registration and protection of the geographical or traditional name of

agricultural products and foodstuffs with PDO, PGI and TSG

Chapter III of the LAW FOR QUALITY OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND

FOOD STUFFS :

Competent institutions for implementation and adoption of amendments to the

Law on Quality is MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND WATER

ECONOMY, (especially the SECTOR FOR MARKETING AND QUALITY OF

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS)

Provisions are harmonized with EU regulation 1151/2012 for PDO, PGI and TSG (

Optional quality terms, quality schemes (for mountain produts and produts from outermost regions are not harmonized with EU regulation)

Sub-legal acts that regulate the

protection and procedures

Rulebook on the form and content of the application for registration of a designation of origin or geographical indication Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia 77/2012

Rulebook on the form and content of the single document from the application for registration of a designation of origin or geographical indication - Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia. 99/2011

Rulebook on the form and content of the study, which is contained in the application for registration of a designation of origin or geographical indication - Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia 100/2012

Determination of agricultural and food products that can be protected at the national and international level PDO, PGI and TSG 89/2012

Rulebook on the form and content of the product specification for obtaining a designation for TSG 99/2011

Rulebooks for Names, symbol and indication, for the costs of the registration procedure, application forms and 4 more

Protected designation Protected geographical Traditional Specialty

of origin - PDO indication - PGI Guaranteed - TSG

Procedure for registration

Group of producers decide to protect product

Product specification

Single document (for ZGO and ZOP)

Fill the Application form

Request with the required documentation submit to MAFWE

MAFWE-nominate a Commission for control of the delivered documentation (experts from the field +administration

if is positive opinion/ publish to the web side of MAFWE/ 3 months

If there is no objection

Product is importing to the Register of Protected

All producers should be registered individually

Regular control of the product and manufacturing process by competent bodies

Announcement when Producers started with production of the protected product

Official Control

the competent authority responsible for official controls carried out to verifycompliance with the legal requirements related to the qualityschemes is State Agriculture Inspectorate

Official controls shall cover:(a) verification that a product complies with the correspondingproduct specification; and(b) monitoring of the use of registered names on the market

Verification of compliance with product specification should be carried out by authorized verification bodiesIf there are no authorized verification bodies, the control of the eligibility and / or the specification is carried out by the appointed Expert Commission by the Minister of Agriculture.

Sector for marketing and quality of

agricultural products

monitoring markets of agricultural products,

applications as well as the approval is carried out through this Sector,

keeps registers and records on the protected products.

Work on mapping new traditional products and promotion

organize meetings with interested agricultural cooperatives or associations of

producers in order to inform the farmers about procedures for applying but

also to explain the economic benefit for the protection of the quality of their

products

There are also protection initiatives for other products such as:

But unfortunately for various reasons registration of

these products has not been started yet.

Mariovski med (honey), Berovski kompir (potato),

Berovska sliva (plum), Krivopalanecki kompir (potato)

Prespansko jabolko (apple), Bistra belo salamureno sirenje (cheese)

Debarsko sirenje (cheese) Sarlagan-virgin oil

Bistra kachkaval etc

Only one product

Ohrid Cherry. - registered with PDO (ZOP) designation

But producers are still not registered

Expenses for establishing the protected designation for quality of agricultural products and foodstuffs

The maximum amount for the technical support is 80% of the costs for the registration of protected name of a product. The support not exceeded amount of max 5.000 EUR.

Beneficiaries

- public research institutions

- educational institutions

- consultant companies

- agricultural/food cooperatives or associations

- local government units

Constrains for protection quality label

problems with the registration of food production facilities (lack of

knowledge and recourses for implementation of hygiene rules)

Draft BoR for flexibility, derogation and exemption in implementation Hygiene

package for small producers /Public debate –30 January)

Insufficient knowledge/ information

▪ How to protect traditional products,

▪ the advantages and benefits of traditional production.

▪ limited know how which could help in improving quality and productivity

lack of interest in joint cooperation, difficulties to establish collaborative

work, insufficient mutual trust among farmers,

insufficient cooperation and understanding with CA, local government, etc.

As an important condition for the economic sustainability of a GI

system we need existence of a sound legal framework for the

protection of traditional products, both inside the country and at the

international level,

We should pay attention -

Possibilities of overlapping/misleading in SEE countries/territory

Lot of similar products – same technology

Lot of similar names for foodstuffs – different technology

Examples

similar products – same technology

Specific traditional food in SEE countries

tufahii, baklava, kadaif , proja, polenta (kachamak), tarana, jufki, kajmak;.

Turšija, pastrma, chebap, pleskavica, vešalica, šaši kebapi, muchkalica,

chufte, burek, guvech, urda, etc.

Jahorina 16-

17 June 2010

Examplesimilar products in the region -

Jahorina 16-

17 June 2010

Shkembe corba

Shopska salata

Beli sir

Example similar names for foodstuffs –

different technology in SEE countries

Sharplanisko bieno sirenje

Kosovo* Macedonia

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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White bean Tetovac

Produced in China

An example of connotation/usurpation – in Balkan region

Serbian?

Macedonian

There for

This requires the integration of many different policy aspects at the

local, national, regional and international level to ensure the system

is transparent, enforceable and efficient.

This requires close cooperation between authorities

• agreement for bilateral application/cross border registration

• Discussion about some mutual interest

It is important to establish an efficient system for

the enforcement of GIs in practice.

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If we want to preserve our traditional food, our culinary

habits, identity and tradition, and in same time provide

equal market competition we should pay attention to our

production, implementation safety standards and protect our

agricultural products.

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We have a great potentialbut…..

Thank you