The Valencian Growers Association (AVA-Asaja) and the Protected Plant Varieties Club (CVVP), formed by the sector's largest Valencian citrus exporters, started a round of negotiations on Friday regarding the conflict which has been on-going for the past few years and which has been resolved with a penalty fine from the Commission for Fair Competition (CNC) to two firms and the CVVP.
The CNC has penalised some of the largest citrus producers from the Region of Valencia for their setting of restrictions on the distribution channels of the Nadorcott mandarin, one of the most valued in the market, as well as for forcing producers and traders of this variety to carry out formal procedures which are "not necessary to secure the rights which these large firms have as licensees."
The fine amounts to more than five million Euro, divided between Nadorcott Protection -83,147 Euro-, Carpa Dorada -5,426 Euro-, and the CVVP, with 4.97 million. This association is led by the Martinavarro group and other large citrus exporters, such as Vicente Giner and Cañamás Hermanos.
The Nadorcott mandarin has been patented in Europe since 2006 and the patent's holder is a firm belonging to the king of Morocco, Mohammed VI. The European approval of the variety's registration, which Spanish citrus producers fought against, not only entailed 15 million in four years in royalties for the Moroccan firm, but the start of a war between Spanish producers to control the sales of this late variety, which is harvested after clementines and consequently reach very good prices. Its production is estimated to reach 120,000 tonnes, valued at around 300 million Euro.
AVA-Asaja does not dispute the right of large firms to charge fees for the seedlings that are sold, as licensees, but refuses for this right to apply also to the trading process, which is why it filed the complaint.
The CNC explains in its resolution that Carpa Dorada, managed by the Martinavarro family, is the exclusive licensee for the exploitation in Spain and Portugal of the Nadorcott mandarin, while the CVVP is an association formed by growers and traders devoted to the development of this and other protected varieties.
It states that, as a result of the implementation of an identification system in 2004, as well as supplementary controls carried out by CVVP, "producers and traders of Nadorcott mandarins have been forced to accept certain restrictions on its distribution channels."
Additionally, these operators were forced to "to supply information, endure inspections and make unnecessary investments for the enforcement of the rights protected by the plant variety legislation, as they affect the production and sales of the harvested fruit."
The resolution urges the three penalised entities "to eliminate the identified restrictions for the fruit's sales and to refrain from introducing equivalent ones in the future."
Source: Eleconomista