The recognition of D.O.P.

A well-deserved praise must go to the association of Trapani oil producers, more precisely to ASPRO-Unapol, APOT-Unaprol and APOT-Unasco, who had the cohesion and the foresight to constitute the Promoter Committee for the recognition of D.O.P. for extra-vergine oil as in the EEC regulation No. 2081/92.
The Promoter Committee, on 9th December 1993, decided to start a procedure for the recognition of D.O.P. for the oil of the Trapani area. This was sustained by the fact that the province of Trapani is among the biggest producers of high-quality oil in Italy.
The Promoter Committee formulated a proposal to discipline the sector, in order to obtain recognition and the registration of D.O.P. extra-vergine olive oil. It was presented to the E.U., to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Regional Council of Agriculture and Forestry on 4th January 1994.
The national Committee for the protection and exploitation of denomination of origin, examined and accepted the proposal on 26th January 1994.
The E.U. Commission certified and registered the Denomination of Protected Origin (DOP) under art. 17 of EEc reg. 2081/92 with the publication in the Official Gazette of the European Union L.322 on 25th November 1997 pag.33, and it was put in the official register of D.O.P. - I.G.P.
Besides this, a Committee at the Ministry of Agricultural Policies, approved the choice of "Agroqualità" as the company entitled to verify and check oil quality.