Mussel fleet. (Photo: Lia Russo)

Unfair sanction for mussel producers, states Control Board

SPAIN
Monday, May 09, 2011, 23:40 (GMT + 9)

The Galician Mussel Regulatory Council considers the EUR 1.8 million sanction imposed to various mussel producers organizations in Galicia for fixing selling prices, distributing production and establishing common commercial terms as "disproportionate and unfair."

"It is an attack on the entire sector, which generates mistrust and new future difficulties for the coordination and organization attempts among all those involved in the mussel sector," pointed out Francisco Alcalde, President of the Council.

The sanction was ordered last week by the National Competitiveness Commission (CNC).

Alcalde recalled that since 1997 when the investigation started, "mussel prices have plummeted down in part due to the increased imports of foreign products. Therefore, he argued that it makes no sense to speak of a mussel pact or of a 'cartel'. "

The average price per kilogram of Galician mussel changed from EUR 0.48 in 2004 to EUR 0.39 in 2009, according to official data.

The Council deplores the repeated attacks against the sector by Juan Manuel Vieites, general secretary of the National Association of Canned Fish and Seafood Manufacturers (Anfaco).

For Alcalde, Vieites’ measures will always aim at the decapitalization of Galician mussel primary sector.

"Since 1997 all the sector movements have been made under the guardianship, if not with the support of the Xunta de Galicia", so that "all the sector parties were confident that the legitimacy of their actions would determine a satisfactory resolution to the interests of the sector" without having to pay fines, he added.

The Control Board also reported that the CNC resolution "contains serious mistakes." He explained that it "indicates that a May 2010 sentence of the Galician High Court nullified" the rule over the Galician mussel Designation of Protected Origin (DPO) "because of negligence of the legitimate interest of the canning industry represented by Anfaco, which filed the appeal against the above mentioned regulation." In this regard, Alcalde said that they appealed the sentence so that today "the Designation of Origin is in full force."

Related article:

- Mussel producer organisations fined with 1.8 million

By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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