Food Information and Control Agency explained

Agency Name:	Food Information and Control Agency
Nativename:	Agencia de Información y Control Alimentarios
Jurisdiction:	Spain
Headquarters:	Madrid,
Employees:	68 (2019)^[1]
Budget:	€ 9.3 million, 2023^[2]
Chief1 Name:	Gema Hernández Maroñas
Chief1 Position:	Director
Parent Agency:	Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Website:	www.aica.gob.es

The Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) is the Spanish Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food autonomous agency responsible for managing the information and control systems of the olericulture, dairy and other markets that the Ministry determines; the control of compliance with the Food Chain Improvement Act of 2013 and the official control of Protected Designations of Origin and Geographical Indications whose territorial scope extends to more than one autonomous community, before the commercialization.^[3]

History

The AICA was created by the First Additional Provision of the Food Chain Improvement Act of 2013. This law designated the AICA as the direct successor of the Agency for Olive Oil (AAO) and it assigned it to the Department of Agriculture through the General Secretariat for Agriculture and Food.^[4] However, this agency was not just focus on the olive oil industry, but in other food industries. The agency began to perform his de facto functions on January 1, 2014^[5] and its internal rules were approved in April 2014.

Following protests from the primary sector in 2020,^{[6] [7]} the minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, pledged, among other things, to strengthen the Agency to ensure compliance with the Food Chain Act. As a result of this commitment, at the end of 2020 the Ministry presented a budget for 2021 with an increase of two million euros compared to the 2018 budget (still in force in 2020), an increase of almost 32%.^[8]

In the same vein, in December 2021 the Cortes Generales approved an amendment of the Food Chain Act. With regard to the AICA, on the one hand, it was granted full authority to access the digital registry in which the food contracts signed with the primary producers and their groups, as well as their modifications, are registered to carry out the pertinent checks within the scope of their powers. On the other hand, with the aim of promoting efficiency in management and legal certainty, the decision-making power about minor pecuniary sanctions (when they do not exceed 100,000 euros) is transferred from the Director-General for the Food Industry to the Director of the Food Information and Control Agency.^[9]

Likewise, the 2021 law declares AICA as the National Execution Authority, being the highest national body responsible for ensuring compliance with the Food Chain Act and the contact point between Spain and the European Commission for these matters.

Organization chart

The Agency is structured through an executive body and an advisory body:

• The executive body of the agency is the Director of the Food Information and Control Agency. The director has the rank of deputy director-general and he or she heads the agency and, as such, it directs and represents it.
  • The Secretary-General, responsible for the management of human resources, internal regime, legal regime, financial and economic regime and the management and maintenance of the State Register of Good Commercial Practices in Food Contracting.^[10]
  • The Technical Unit for Market Information and Inspection, which is responsible for obtaining data and its analysis and processing, as well as the planning and execution of the controls and the evaluation of its results.
  • The Technical Unit for Monitoring the Chain, which is responsible for monitoring, evaluation and control of food contracts and commercial practices in the food chain, as well as the promotion of fair business practices.
• The advisory body is the Advisory Council, a collective organ composed by representatives from the General State Administration, from the Autonomous Communities and from those actors of the food chain who are interested, including consumers.
  • The Chairperson of the Advisory Council is the Secretary-General for Agriculture and Food and the Deputy Chair is the Director-General for the Food Industry, both officials from the Ministry.
  • Among the members of the council, there is the director of the Agency and representatives from the departments of Agriculture, Economy, Finance, from the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, from the National Commission on Markets and Competition and from cooperatives, associations and other social organizations, of the autonomous communities and of the Spanish Council on Consumers and Users.

List of directors

Since the agency's creation in 2014, only two persons have held the position of director:

1. José Miguel Herrero (2014–2018)^[11]
2. Gema Hernández Maroñas (2018–)^[12]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Resolution of September 25, 2019, of the Food Information and Control Agency, which publishes the annual accounts for the year 2018 and the audit report.. www.boe.es. 2020-03-08.
2. Web site: State Budget 2023.
3. Web site: Royal Decree 227/2014, of April 4, which approves the Statute of the Information and Food Control Agency.. boe.es. 2020-03-08.
4. Web site: Law 12/2013, of August 2, on measures to improve the functioning of the food chain.. www.boe.es. 2020-03-08.
5. Web site: Nueva Agencia de Información y Control Alimentario: José Miguel Herrero se perfila como director. www.olimerca.com. es-ES. 2020-03-08.
6. Web site: 2020-02-05. Hundreds of farmers rally in Madrid to demand fairer prices. 2021-11-08. EL PAÍS English Edition. en.
7. Web site: Bock. Pauline. 2020-02-18. Why are Spanish farmers protesting against low prices?. 2021-11-08. euronews. en.
8. Web site: Digital. Confidencial. 2020-11-05. Agricultura eleva un 31,8% el presupuesto para la AICA y un 19% para la promoción de los alimentos españoles. 2021-11-08. Confidencial Digital. es.
9. Web site: Ley 16/2021, de 14 de diciembre, por la que se modifica la Ley 12/2013, de 2 de agosto, de medidas para mejorar el funcionamiento de la cadena alimentaria. . 2022-03-22 . www.boe.es.
10. Web site: Nuestra estructura. www.aica.gob.es. es. 2020-03-08.
11. Web site: Jose Miguel Herrero, nombrado director de la Agencia de Información y Control Alimentario. 2013-11-12. Master Agroalimentario (MGEA). es. 2020-03-08.
12. Web site: Gema Hernández, nueva directora de la Agencia de Información y Control Alimentarios. 2018-07-19. Europa Press. 2020-03-08.