Production of agricultural products and foodstuffs

The registration is required before the start of pursuing the activity. The most frequent form is an agricultural holding. An agricultural holding is an organisational and operational economic entity which comprises one or several production units, deals with agricultural or agricultural and forestry activity, has uniform management, address or head office, name or company and is organised as: legal entity, sole trader, farm, which is not a legal entity or sole trader, agricultural holding – joint pasture, agricultural holding – mountain pasture. An agricultural holding must have a holder of agricultural holding who may be a legal or natural entity. Agricultural holdings in the area of the Republic of Slovenia are entered in the Register of agricultural holdings In the Register of agricultural holdings, the data are kept on the agricultural holding and entities related to the agricultural holding. All agricultural holdings must be entered in the Register of agricultural holding, which: must be entered in the mandatory databases of the Ministry as per the regulations within the competence of the Ministry; assert financial aids as per the Agriculture Act or any other measures of the agricultural policy; are entered for the implementation of agricultural activity in the official records or registers according to other regulations; use at least one hectare of land which are according to the actual use of agricultural and forest land deemed as agricultural land or 0.1 of olive grove or 0.2 ha of intensive orchard or 0.1 ha of berries or shellfish or hop field; market the products they produce.

Evidence

 

Persons liable to be entered in the register of facilities are holders of the activity of the primary production of foodstuffs and fodder of plant origin.

The application for the registration of facilities of the primary producers of foodstuffs of plant origin are filled out by all who produce, prepare and store primary foodstuff products of plant origin, including the proper level of market launching.

The primary fodder production includes production, simple processing of agricultural products (e.g. mowing, harvesting, natural drying, cleaning, packaging, storing, silage making), storing and management of agricultural products on the farm.

After the examination of the request, the competent authority will issue the holder of the activity the extract from the register of facilities which serves as registration confirmation.

Holders of activities who exclusively produce and store the foodstuff products of plant origin and fodder for private domestic use, are not required to enter in the register of facilities.

Details

Agricultural products produced in farms may be directly sold to the final consumer in the local market by holders, members of a farm and employees on a farm who are entered in the Register of Agricultural holdings. The following is deemed as the direct sale to the final consumer in the local market: sale at the location of production, sale at markets, sale at mobile sale facilities, such as mobile stand and mobile stand, door-to-door sales, sale at fairs and events. A holder, member of a farm or employees on a farm must not directly sell the same types of agricultural products to the final consumer, if the holder of the member of the farm is:

 

a sole trader, registered for the selling of agricultural products and entered in the register of facilities for the same types of product groups; holder of the subsidiary on-farm activity, registered for the subsidiary activity of selling the agricultural products or a legal representative of the legal entity or a person with the majority share with the legal entity, registered for the selling of agricultural products and entered in the register of facilities for the same types of groups of agricultural products.

 

If a person employed on the farm is also the person referred to in the first or third indent from the previous paragraph, he must not sell the same types of groups of agricultural products of this farm to the final consumer.

Legal basis

• Agriculture Act (ZKme-1)

Protected agricultural products and foodstuffs are the agricultural products and foodstuffs from quality schemes. According to the quality scheme, they are also designated with associated European and national trademarks.

The quality schemes in the Republic of Slovenia are the following:

• Protected designation of origin (European scheme) – all phases of production and processing must take place in the specific geographical area;
• protected geographical indication (European scheme) – at least one of the production phases of an agricultural product must take place in the specific geographical area;
• traditional speciality guaranteed (European scheme) – production is not restricted to the specific geographical area, meaning that the products may be produced throughout Slovenia and the European Union (if the European protection is acquired). These products are produced in the traditional way or from the traditional materials or according to the traditional recipe;
• higher quality; (national scheme) – an agricultural product or foodstuff positively deviates from other similar products and foodstuff in terms of its characteristics;
• organic production (national scheme) – an agricultural product or foodstuff is produced and processed according to natural methods and procedures;
• integrated production – an agricultural product is produced according to the methods using approved agro-technical measures in a regulated way;
• treats from our farms (national scheme – in the process of introduction) – it refers to the agricultural products and foodstuff produced or processed on the farm according to the recipes characteristic of agricultural products and by using the major part of own materials or materials from the local environment.

Before making a decision regarding the protection of agricultural products or foodstuffs, it is very important that an applicant or association of producers conducts a preliminary strategic analysis, on the basis of which it acquires general information on the rationale of the product certification procedure. All guidelines for the preparation of a preliminary strategic analysis for special agricultural products or foodstuff are available for the assistance.

An application for the protection of an agricultural product or foodstuff must be lodged with the competent authority. An application must be prepared in accordance with the instructions for the protection of a special agricultural product or foodstuff.

The protection of agricultural products or foodstuffs takes place in two phases. In the first phase, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment protects the name. In the second phase, the certification authority establishes the conformity and issues a certificate which is a proof of the authenticity of the products under the protected name.

Details

PPP must be properly used. The proper use includes in particular: use of PPP according to the label and instructions for use, management with PPP, which in addition to treatment includes also the preparation of spraying broth before the treatment, handling with the residue of spraying broth in reservoirs of devices after the treatment and cleaning of devices, used after the treatment in the way which does not endanger health of people and environment, storage of PPP in the way as to prevent the hazards to the health of people and environment, observance of special measures for protection of bees, prevention of PPP application, time restriction of the access of people to the recently treated surfaces, observance of the goods practice of plant protection and good agricultural practice in using the seeds treated with PPP. 

In using PPP the user must also observe the provisions of regulations governing the water protection, environment protection, safety and health at work, waste and public order and peace and special measures of the act regulating the transport and application of PPP.

Special measures include the prohibition of the treatment from the air, protective measures of water environment and drinking water, reduction of the use or risks due to use of PPP in special areas, reduction of use or risks due to use of PPP in public areas and integrated protection of plants against pests. A PPP user must immediately notify the competent authority or phytosanitary inspector on the unwanted effects of PPP detected in the use of PPP (e.g. regarding the potentially dangerous or unwanted effect of PPP or PPP residue on the health of people, animals, environment, treated plants or plants in crop rotation.

Legal basis

• Plant Protection Products Act (ZFfS-1)
• Rules on the proper use of plant-protection products

Permit for the trade in PPP in emergencies is issued only in specific circumstances for the maximum period of 120 days for a restricted and controlled use. Special circumstances occur when a measure is required due to threat which cannot be managed with other suitable measures.

The competent authority decides on the permit in emergencies.

Details

A parallel trade permit is issued for a plant protection product which is already registered in one Member State (Member State of origin) and is identical to the reference product already registered in the Republic of Slovenia.

The competent authority decides on the parallel trade permit.

The same conditions of use, permit validity and potential restrictions apply for the trade and use of PPP, for which the parallel trade permit was issued, as stated in the registration of the reference product.

An applicant lodges an application with the competent authority on a form with mandatory attachments.

Details

For the application of PPP, only the devices may be applied which acquired the certificate of proper operation and the designation on the regular inspection on the basis of the conducted inspection. The inspection is not required for devices determined by the minister. Owners of devices must provide they use are regularly inspected for the safety and protection of health of people and environment. The regular inspection is performed every three years, except for the new devices which are inspected after five years from the purchase date. Regular inspections are conducted by the inspectors of devices on-site according to the determined schedule. An owner or user of the device must bring a clean device with the pertaining equipment for the inspection. The reservoir of the device must be filled with clean water up to 1/3 of the total volume, which enables the test of operation and measurements. The inspector of devices may reject the inspection of an unclean device. The owner of devices must report in writing to the inspector of devices any change related to the ownership or technical data of the device within 30 days from the change or from the moment he became aware of it.

Evidence

Appropriately installed designation on the regular inspection. Issued certificate on proper device operation.

Legal basis

• Plant Protection Products Act (ZFfS-1)
• Rules on the requirements for the correct operation of equipment for the application of plant protection products, and on the conditions and method for inspections of such equipment