The Special Protection Intellectual Property Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, in the context of operational relations indicated by the Commander of Special Units, has continued and intensified preventive and repressive activities in the plastic packaging sector that do not comply with current regulations, with particular regard to protection of consumers, the green chemical industry and, more in general, of the ecosystem, which sees a strong and absolute sensitivity on the part of the Government Authorities. The service action was focused on compliance with the provisions contained in the Decree Law of 25 January 2012, n. 2, on “Extraordinary and urgent environmental measures”, by economic entities operating, for various reasons, in the production and / or marketing of plastic bags for the removal of goods (cc.dd. shoppers). More specifically, they are widely and widely used on the market, they must be biodegradable and compostable according to the standard UNI EN 13432. Vice versa, for reusable ones, they can be made of polyethylene, with internal / external handle and must have, respectively, one “Wall thickness” greater than: – 60/100 microns, if intended for non-food use; – 100/200 micron, if used for food removal. In this regard, despite the fact that over the course of time strict rules have been applied to the use of so-called “bioplastics”, the investigators, through careful and careful analysis of the context, have had the basic suspicion of the alleged illegal economic interests being pursued by some unscrupulous companies, producers / distributors of bags for goods removal, predominant on the legal economy. In this regard, a fruitful collaboration was also started with the Italian Association of Bioplastics and Biodegradable and Compostable Materials (ASSOBIOPLASTICHE), strengthened by the contribution provided by the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA) – Umbria for the necessary analysis of samples of bags, taken during inspections carried out on the national territory. Therefore, the Special Unit has prepared and coordinated a structured “action plan”, whose interventions, which followed, have resulted in: – a pilot operation, with the involvement of multiple departments in the regions of Southern Italy, which has led to the emergence of the involvement of numerous businesses affiliated with known chains linked to large retailers (in the food and non-food sectors), revealing the seriousness and the uncommon extent of the illicit phenomenon as a whole; – subsequent enforcement actions, carried out extensively on the remaining national territory, which have invested numerous Body Departments through specific controls against producers / distributors and sellers (commercial businesses in the food and non-food sectors). 2 Overall, the service activities, carried out on a national scale, carried out through the execution of hundreds of checks, have allowed: – the contestation of as many administrative offenses for the violation of art. 2 of the D.L. January 25, 2012, for a total of pecuniary sanctions amounting to 3,000,000.00 euros; – reporting to the competent judicial authorities of numerous subjects who, even in competition with each other, have been responsible for the crime of “fraud in the exercise of trade”; – the seizure of:. about 2,000,0000 illegal plastic bags; kg. 2,380 of raw material suitable for producing said goods; various clichés used for the printing of deceptive logos and words on shopper for consumers.
Source: GdF
