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.[3]
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.[9]
Organization chart
The Agency is structured through an executive body and an advisory body:[3]
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.[3]
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.[10]
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.[10]
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.
