Greetings from the President | Organisation Chart
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Greetings from the President
Antonio García Martín-Delgado
Greetings
The first thing to say is that after a number of years fighting for the protection of a product so important to this region as La Mancha Saffron, which has been and is recognised worldwide as of the best quality, over the course of these years we have begun to advance along a path that is beneficial to our claims.
Over these years, various important dates should be highlighted:
1995: By the order of 20th April, 1995, published in the D.O.C.M. (Daily Gazette of Castilla La Mancha) of 19th May 1995, the “La Mancha Saffron designation of origin was provisionally recognised”; since that first recognition various statutes and structures were studied by this Regulatory Council, which were being adapted to the new guidelines from Brussels to definitively recognise this Designation of Origin. And so, on the 5th of October 1998, the “REGULATORY COUNCIL FOR THE LA MANCHA SAFFRON DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN” FOUNDATION was constituted by public deed.
1999: - Publication in the D.O.C.M. on 19th of February 1999 of the Terms and Conditions. - On the 9th of April 1999 a public event was held, which enjoyed the presence of the President of the Regional Government, Mr. José Bono and the Government Minister, Mr. Carlos Moro, and, amongst other authorities, the Agriculture Minister Mr. Alejandro Alonso, and with the help of Mr. Tico Medina, who praised the virtues of this product, we wanted to provide the guests with the knowledge and experience of a select group of experts from different areas relating to saffron, such as quality, gastronomy and biomedicine. - Another important date for this Regulatory Council was June of 1999, as after a lengthy process of evaluation and control and always monitoring the prestige and quality of the Designation of Origin, the first two companies who could package and sell saffron with D.O. were certified, with their corresponding back label controlled by the Certification Service, and this is the moment at which the first saffron with “La Mancha Saffron” Designation of Origin is launched onto the market. - 10th of August 1999, the correction of the Foreign Trade Rule for the Exportation of Saffron is published in the B.O.E. (Official State Gazette), wherein the term Mancha replaces Select or Superior, in such a way that from 12th of August 2001 any saffron labelled as Mancha without being certified by this Regulatory Council (which is the one to guarantee its true origins and who bestows the corresponding enumerated back label, or Conformity Mark) is considered to be fraudulent and the opportune measures for sanction are taken.
2001: On 7th of March 2001 the La Mancha Saffron Designation of Origin was inscribed in the Register of Protected Designations of Origin and Protected Geographical Indications, thereby obtaining protection at community level. Commission Regulation (EC) Nº 464/2001 of 7th March 2001 (DO L66/29 and L66/30 of 8.3.2001).
Throughout this long journey the Foundation, an independent and non-profit-making entity, has persisted and continues to do so, with its constitutional aims, the protection and promotion of La Mancha Saffron (protected by this D.O.), involving all sectors relating to this product (producers, sellers, consumers, public entities and other related entities of general interest, such as the University), through an organ which guarantees impartiality in the Product Certification criteria; thereby accommodating the much forgotten sector of end consumers of the products protected by such designations of origin.
I would like to take this opportunity to encourage the cultivation of this prestigious product, to thereby once again take up the hegemony with regard to production, as we still have the quality with which to continue being a worldwide benchmark in this sector. And to the consumers, encourage them to continue consuming AUTHENTIC “La Mancha Saffron” with the utmost guarantee of quality.
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