News PlantNet
Vegetable sector wants to postpone NVWA rates
The competitive position of the vegetable sector is under pressure due to government plans for new tariffs from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), PlantNet International believes. The organization in which VegetableFruit House and the Dutch Potato Organization (NAO) have submitted a petition to the House of Representatives this afternoon (October 18).
The government wants the rates of the NVWA services that the business community has to pay for, such as inspection work for imports, exports and slaughter and re-inspections, to be cost-effective as of 1 January 2023. Based on the current rates, the NVWA will charge approximately €2022 million to the business community in 120 and the government will supplement approximately €35 million because the rates do not fully cover costs, wrote the then Minister of Agriculture Henk Staghouwer to the House in June.
The NVWA's new cost price model should not be introduced as of 1 January 2023, according to PlantNet, which is working together with the animal sector. "With the current state of affairs, I am firmly convinced that this cannot be completed as of January 1. There is still so much uncertainty, there are still so many topics on the table, take your time", says Henk Westerhof, chairman of PlantNet.
In addition, there is a subject that, according to Westerhof, specifically affects the vegetable sector. This concerns activities of the NVWA that are not yet charged, but of which the Cabinet believes that the business community should bear the costs. Westerhof: "We disagree in principle with what the ministry intends to make some of that work retrievable and to charge it on."
More NVWA capacity needed
If it does happen, then, according to Westerhof, there must also be something in return: "Then more capacity may be made available. The capacity at the NVWA to represent phytosanitary interests internationally may be more. The export value of the sector is around the €30 billion, but our companies can only export without problems if good international agreements have been made in the field of plant health. Countries such as China and other Asian countries, they all have their own rules of the game." Westerhof would like to emphasize that the NVWA's efforts are 'enormous'. "But because of the multitude of files and complexity, it would be good if a few hands were added."
Linda van Eekeres
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