Wine promotion projects abroad: simpler procedures and rules arrive to help companies
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty will soon publish the new call for proposals on promotion: 100 million of funds accessible via an online procedure and now including project variants
3' min read
3' min read
A strong injection of simplification for the foreign promotion of Italian wine. An initial response to the turbulence in international markets comes from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, which will soon publish the new call for promotion developed by the Promotion and Communication Directorate headed by Teresa Nicolazzi and Head of Department Marco Lupo. A measure that aims to respond to the threat of duties on what is the main market for Italian wine, the United States, with a major procedural simplification.
It should be remembered that every year the Wine CMO allocates approximately 100 million euros for Italian wine promotion projects (to be co-financed at 50%) on third country markets. A financial chip that has always been of great importance but is even more strategic at a time of global trade turbulence.
The first and perhaps most important novelty will be the possibility of submitting projects entirely online via the Sian (National Agricultural Information System). This novelty is the result of an agreement with all the regions with the sole exception of the Tuscany Region and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, and will make it possible to avoid physically presenting the Ministry in Via XX Settembre with bundles of paperwork, carrying out all fulfilments via the Internet. The computerised mode is also expected to significantly reduce the time required to assess applications.
Another important new feature is the deletion of the 'three budget' rule for each expenditure item for promotion projects for the USA, Canada, China, the UK and Switzerland. However, the planned expenditure must fall within the 76 expenditure items pre-identified by Masaf.
For the other countries, the 'three estimates' rule will remain in place, although work is underway to extend the simplification to more outlets beyond the first five.
Another important innovation is the possibility of moving activities and related costs between countries as long as the objectives and eligibility criteria that determined the project's position in the ranking list are kept intact. Shifting can take place in a defined number of cases such as when cost savings can be achieved in the activities, when the project objectives can be achieved with a lower budget, when the import and distribution of wines in the third country being promoted is managed by a state monopoly, and when requirements of the same authority make it necessary to reschedule activities.
