PREAMBLE

One of the first outward signs of a nation's socioeconomic development is food abundance. For centuries, unstable harvests and problems with animal and plant health, outdated means of production, the inability to detach from climatic, geographic, and natural factors, deficiencies in production, transportation, storage, and marketing infrastructure, and market inefficiencies led to frequent mass deaths and economic ruin, forced migrations, and reduced the development capacity of many societies. The developed world today produces food in sufficient quantity and quality for most of its population, allowing for adequate distribution at a reasonable price. And yet, despite these advances, hunger remains a real threat and a daily hardship for millions of people worldwide.

I

Food loss and waste are a sign of inefficient food systems and a lack of social awareness. Regardless of food security, significant levels of food loss and waste occur throughout the entire food chain, from production to consumption. Up to 14% of the food produced worldwide is lost between post-harvest and retail stages alone, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2019. Food loss and waste can stem from a wide range of factors, including the use of unsuitable inputs in production activities; errors in the planning and timing of harvesting; the use of inappropriate production, harvesting, and handling practices; deficiencies in storage conditions and temperature control for preserving perishable products; inadequate marketing conditions and techniques at the retail stage; and poor practices by food service providers. Inappropriate behavior of consumers during the purchase, preparation and consumption of food; lack or insufficiency of equipment, transport and storage capacity; inadequate organization, coordination or lack of communication between agents in the food chain and insufficient infrastructure.

Therefore, drastically reducing this volume of food loss and waste is a moral imperative for public authorities and supply chain operators.

But it's not just the food itself that's wasted; the significant resources used to produce it, the immense human, technical, and economic efforts invested, and the added value achieved through so much work and dedication are also lost. This waste disrupts the value chains of the primary sector, hinders the economic development of many regions and producers, especially in rural areas, and represents a wasted investment that cannot be used for other purposes. It has been estimated that this waste of resources represents an economic loss equivalent to $936 billion per year (more than €728 billion per year), according to FAO studies "Mitigation of food wastage. Societal costs and benefits." 2014 and "Food wastage footprint. Full-cost accounting. Final report. 2014."

Furthermore, food waste represents an often unnoticed burden on environmental policy, as it generates a significant water and carbon footprint. According to the report "Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Agri-food System and Carbon Footprint of Food in Spain" (Aguilera, E., Piñero, P., Infante Amate, J., González de Molina, M., Lassaletta, L., Sanz Cobeña, A., 2020), food waste is responsible for a quarter of the total emissions of the agri-food system, which in absolute terms represents around one ton of CO2e per capita per year. Food waste also adds an unacceptable opportunity cost in terms of resources used, as it absorbs a huge amount of inputs that will not be used and prevents the use of land for other purposes (two million hectares have been deforested to produce food that has not been consumed). Nearly 30% of the world's agricultural land is used annually to produce food that is lost or wasted. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on "Climate Change and Land," published in August 2019, "Reducing food loss and waste can decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to adaptation by reducing the amount of land needed for food production. From 2010 to 2016, global food loss and waste contributed to between 8% and 10% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions. Currently, between 25% and 30% of all food produced is lost or wasted."

Therefore, food loss and waste represent an irreparable loss in terms of social justice, environmental protection and economic growth, and all of it in vain.

In this respect, Spain is a clear example of the transition from a predominantly agrarian society to an urbanized one with a service sector. The rejection of food waste is a traditional concern closely linked to agrarian societies, and in our country, the Pragmatic Sanction of May 15, 1584 (included as Law I, Title XX; Book VII of the Novísima Recopilación) mandated that "when there is much bread in the granary, and it is necessary to replenish it due to abundance, so that it is not lost, the town councils shall order it to be loaned to creditors, with guarantees that they will return it to the granary at the following harvest." Improvements in production and logistics, intense social and consumption changes, urbanization, new lifestyles, and reduced dependence on natural resources have modified the production landscape and shifted a significant part of the problem of loss and waste to later links in the supply chain. Thus, even though pockets of poverty still exist in all developed societies, the vast majority of their citizens have guaranteed access to sufficient, quality food. Consequently, both the perceived risk of losing this privileged status and new consumption patterns have led to overlooking the fragility of abundance and discarding enormous quantities of food. This reality weakens the national economy, increases opportunity costs for both professionals and consumers, imposes greater burdens on proper food management, and generates significant negative externalities. Meanwhile, the most vulnerable in developed societies face real problems accessing a varied and sufficient diet, and the poorest countries suffer the social and health problems stemming from hunger or undernourishment, which are especially burdensome for children. However, the resilience of our agri-food sector has always demonstrated ample capacity for adaptation and modernization, ensuring, even in the most difficult times, the timely supply of high-quality food, the retention of population in rural areas, contributions to environmental and landscape preservation, and the protection of defining cultural features such as gastronomy. Our country's commitment to combating food loss and waste is therefore essential, a logical corollary of these values and the responsibility of all links in the supply chain, as well as third-sector organizations, and it also reflects our socioeconomic evolution. It is imperative, then, that the most developed nations not forget their past or their obligations to those who most need a firm commitment to a better world.

II

Spanish and European society, as well as national and EU institutions, have not remained indifferent to the situation affecting food loss and waste at all levels of the food chain. They have called for measures to prevent and reduce food loss and waste, which would provide a significant opportunity to ensure food supply, reduce environmental risks, conserve non-renewable resources for other uses, and avoid economic losses. Consequently, public authorities have begun to recognize the problem and are gradually taking action to end this unsustainable situation as much as possible.

At the international level, the document "How to feed the world in 2050" was adopted at the High-Level Forum of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations held in Rome in 2009. This document highlighted the need to increase food production to meet the growing demand of an increasing population and the urgent need to address food loss and waste, a missed opportunity to feed the world, especially by improving the nutritional level of the poorest populations, while containing the use of finite natural resources and managing biodegradable waste.

To raise awareness of this problem, September 29th was declared International Day Against Food Waste.

Within this framework, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 of the 2030 Agenda stipulates in its target 3 that by 2030, it is necessary to "halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food loss along production and supply chains." This goal is closely linked to others such as SDG 2 "Zero Hunger," SDG 11 "Sustainable Cities and Communities," and SDG 13 "Climate Action," as well as SDGs 14 and 15 (related to life below water and ecosystems), and constitutes a cross-cutting element of international action in this area.

Furthermore, the G20 Agriculture Ministers met in Istanbul in 2015 to address the growing challenges of ensuring food security, expressing “grave concern about the remarkable extent of food loss and waste across all food value chains,” and its economic, environmental, and social significance. They pledged to establish sustainable food systems by reducing food loss and waste. Subsequently, a “G20 Action Plan on Food Security/Sustainable Food Systems” was presented within this framework as a guide for action for its members.

The fight against food waste is therefore crucial within the framework of the multilateral approach to ensuring food security, which the FAO defines as the situation in which all people have permanent physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences, enabling them to lead an active and healthy life. To achieve this, the FAO has proposed, among other measures, the creation of a platform to reduce losses and waste through a set of coherent recommendations across the entire supply chain. These recommendations include preventing losses in production and harvesting through technically, socioeconomically, and environmentally sustainable practices; ensuring adequate storage and processing facilities and resources, developing capacities, and guaranteeing the availability of raw materials and efficient technologies; improving labeling and marketing techniques to generate safe and nutritious food that is not wasted or discarded; promoting informed behavior and sustainable consumption; and reducing waste throughout the entire food chain, including the HORECA channel and households.

The FAO study on Food Loss and Waste in the World – Scope, Causes and Prevention, from 2011, was a true turning point in raising global awareness of this issue. The study's findings suggest that one-third of food production is lost or wasted, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons per year: “Enormous amounts of resources intended for food production are used in vain, and the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the production of food that is lost or wasted are also emissions in vain.”

The study noted a significant difference between behavior patterns in rich countries, where most food loss is concentrated at the consumption stage, even when the food is suitable, due to consumer behavior and a lack of coordination among the different actors in the supply chain, and in poor countries, where food is lost mainly during the initial and intermediate stages of the supply chain due to economic, technical and management limitations in utilization, storage facilities and refrigeration in difficult climatic conditions, infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems.

Proof of this is that in the European Union it is estimated that 40% of the waste is concentrated in the consumer and another 40% in processing and manufacturing, with 15% in the restaurant sector and 5% in distribution.

The European Union has been approving a series of initiatives to combat these practices. For example, in 2010 the Commission produced the pioneering "Preparatory Study on Food Waste in the EU-27" as a first step in assessing the situation.

The European Parliament resolution of 19 January 2012 on "How to avoid food waste: strategies to improve the efficiency of the food supply chain in the EU" marked the first milestone in this direction. Parliament noted that at that time, 79 million people in the EU were living below the poverty line, 16 million of whom were receiving food aid from charities.

Institutions, states, and supply chain operators were urged to address the problem of waste, raising ethical, economic, social, and nutritional issues, as well as health and environmental consequences (food waste contributes significantly to climate warming due to the methane gas it generates, whose greenhouse effect is 21 times greater than that of carbon dioxide), so that efficiency could be improved and incorporated into European public policies, taking measures to halve food waste by 2025 and, at the same time, prevent the generation of biowaste.

The resolution "considers it imperative to reduce food waste throughout the entire food chain, from the field to the consumer's table," adopting "a coordinated strategy, followed by concrete actions at European level, including the exchange of best practices…, fostering direct relationships between producers and consumers and shortening food supply chains, calling on all stakeholders to assume more shared responsibilities and encouraging them to intensify coordination in order to continue improving logistics, transport, stock management and packaging" given that the causes of waste are diverse: "overproduction, poor product conditioning (ill-conceived size or shape), deterioration of the product or packaging, marketing standards (appearance problems or defective packaging), and poor stock management or inadequate commercial strategies."

The resolution "emphasizes that agriculture, by its very nature, is resource-efficient and can play a key and leading role in the fight against food waste," urging that this be taken into account in policy proposals, that a harmonised definition of waste be established, that investment in research be made, that education be promoted, and that quality requirements applicable to external appearance be reviewed, both those imposed by European or national legislation and by internal company rules, recalling that the Commission's study on empowering consumers in the European Union (SEC(2011)0469) concluded that 18% of European citizens do not understand the phrase "Best before...".

Years later, the European Parliament unanimously approved a Resolution on the "Initiative on the efficient use of resources: reducing food waste, improving food security" (2017), which emphasizes both the problem and the solutions, recalling the need to take urgent, effective and coordinated measures to reduce it and setting concrete targets.

Among the measures included in this document, the need to carry out awareness-raising activities and communication campaigns stands out; it sets a target of reducing food waste in the Union by 30% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030; it emphasizes the potential for optimizing the use of lost or discarded food and by-products in the production of animal feed, nutrient recycling, and the production of soil amendments; it proposes rethinking the "use by" and "best before" indicators and identifying logistical and organizational models that allow for the safe recovery of products that have not been sold by that date; it encourages households by promoting a weekly day dedicated to using up leftovers and creating markets to give an outlet to products that are normally excluded; it highlights the potential of social innovation projects, such as the collection and donation of surplus food to food aid associations and the promotion of short supply chains; It suggests passing "good Samaritan legislation" but taking into account that food donations do not solve the main problems of poverty and that they must be subject to controls so that they are not diverted to the creation of an alternative market; and recommends including in catering tenders the obligation to have plans for reducing and managing food waste and that operators assume their share of responsibility and apply the joint declaration on food waste Every Crumb Counts and the retail sector agreement on waste.

In 2016, several initiatives were adopted along these lines, from different perspectives and institutions, but converging on a shared objective. On the one hand, the EU Platform on Food Loss and Waste was launched, enabling an effective exchange of experiences and best practices among Member States and stakeholders. On the other hand, the Circular Economy Action Plan was adopted, and the Economic and Social Committee's Opinion on "More Sustainable Food Systems" urged the European Commission and Member States to achieve a sustainable, fair, and climate-friendly food system by reducing waste. Furthermore, the European Court of Auditors' Special Report No. 34/2016, "Tackling Food Waste: An Opportunity for the EU to Make More Efficient Use of Resources in the Food Supply Chain," called on the EU to be more efficient in combating food waste, deeming it essential to establish a definition to achieve the objectives. Finally, the Council Conclusions on “Closing the Loop: An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy” were adopted, and the Council Conclusions on food loss and waste reinforced these objectives, promoting sustainability and reducing food waste. These included, among other things, a request to Member States and the Commission to collect data to better understand the problem; an emphasis on preventing food loss and waste; and facilitating the donation of unsold food products to charitable, social, or humanitarian organizations. A first assessment of progress in implementing these conclusions was carried out in 2018, followed by a second assessment in 2020. During this second assessment, the German Presidency submitted a questionnaire to Member States and the Commission, concluding that all Member States had adopted national measures to reduce food loss and waste and had frequently integrated them into their national strategies or legislation, particularly highlighting the favorable tax treatment of such initiatives.

The Commission also made progress in developing an EU methodology for measuring food waste, and drew up EU guidelines to facilitate food donation and the use of old food as animal feed.

In turn, in application of the 2018 revision of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD), Member States are required to adopt measures to prevent the generation of waste and, in particular, to reduce food waste (to which food waste contributes significantly). To this end, they must establish measurement systems to determine the food waste generated and its evolution, based on a common methodology approved by Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 of 3 May 2019, supplementing Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards a common methodology and minimum quality requirements for the uniform measurement of food waste.

The Directive establishes the obligation to communicate the total amount of food waste generated at each link in the supply chain, based on measurements that can be taken every four years for each of these links in accordance with the Decision, so that the Commission could assess in 2023 the feasibility of setting reduction targets at European level. The measures to prevent food waste imposed on Member States by the directive must, at a minimum, reduce the generation of food waste in primary production, processing and manufacturing, retail and other types of food distribution, in restaurants and food services, as well as in households, as a contribution to the United Nations sustainable development goals to reduce per capita food waste globally in retail and among consumers by 50%, and reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030 and will encourage food donation and other means of redistribution for human consumption, giving priority to human consumption over animal feed and processing into non-food products.

It should be noted that the recent Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy, provides for measures to prevent the generation of waste, such as the obligation for the competent authorities to adopt measures whose aims will be, at least, to reduce the generation of food waste in primary production, in processing and manufacturing, in retail and other types of food distribution, in restaurants and food services, as well as in households, so as to achieve a 50% reduction in food waste per capita at the retail and consumer level, and a 20% reduction in food losses along the production and supply chains by 2030, compared to 2020, and to promote the donation of food and other types of redistribution for human consumption, prioritizing it over animal feed and transformation into non-food products. Furthermore, it establishes a measure whereby all municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants are required to separate biowaste (organic fraction), and includes a specific article on food waste.

In relation to the definitions of food waste and food spoilage, it should be noted that food waste is a concept defined in Law 7/2022, of April 8, originating from the Waste Framework Directive, and is all food, as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of January 28, 2002, which has become waste, "waste" being any substance or object which its holder discards or intends or is obliged to discard.

The definition of "food" established in Regulation (EC) 178/2002 encompasses all food throughout the entire food chain, from production to consumption. Likewise, food also includes inedible parts if these are not separated from the edible parts during food production, such as bones in meat intended for human consumption. Consequently, food waste may comprise items containing both food parts intended for consumption and food parts not intended for consumption. Therefore, the concept of food waste would be a subset of the concept of food waste, since the latter does include "food parts not intended for consumption," which are not included in the concept of waste.

In any case, actions related to combating food waste and loss appear in other European initiatives, such as the European Green Deal and especially the Farm to Fork Strategy, which have incorporated these actions as a cross-cutting element in other EU policies, or the school fruit and milk program to promote good eating habits among children and young people, which can be accompanied by educational measures that encourage the prevention of loss and waste. All of these have ultimately come to form an essential core of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2023 and beyond.

On the other hand, the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy, Spain Circular 2030, includes as an objective reducing food waste generation throughout the food chain: a 50% per capita reduction at the household and retail levels and a 20% reduction in production and supply chains starting in 2020, thus contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Likewise, the First Circular Economy Action Plan includes section 2.2 on food waste with two measures, instruments with which this law is consistent.

This reflection in the upcoming Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is also reflected at the national level, so that the Strategic Plan of the new CAP includes a Specific Objective 9 to improve agriculture's response to social demands regarding food, health and sustainability, in whose definition the need to reduce food waste from production to consumers has been identified.

But the Kingdom of Spain has already launched many other initiatives to stop waste, among which the pioneering "More Food, Less Waste" Strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, from 2013, stands out. This strategy aims to promote transparency, dialogue and coordination between agents in the food chain and public administrations, and to develop coordinated actions that have contributed to driving a change in attitudes, working systems and management practices that have made it possible to limit waste and reduce environmental pressures.

Its main lines of action have been collaboration among the various stakeholders, raising public awareness, promoting best practices in prevention and reduction, and optimizing surplus. It has been implemented with a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach, in which all agents involved in the food supply chain contributed directly or indirectly to prevention and reduction. Among these lines of action, the effort to inform and raise awareness (to achieve firm commitments against food waste at every stage) and certain regulatory changes, such as the elimination of the use-by date requirement for yogurt, stand out. Likewise, the Code of Good Commercial Practices in Food Contracting has incorporated a commitment to pay special attention to reducing the volume of food waste at different stages of the chain.

Another key element has been the support for new technologies and innovation, such as those that extend the shelf life of food, especially in terms of packaging. Therefore, efforts were made to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in business projects aimed at reducing food waste, and to identify the four Rs of food waste: reduce through responsible purchasing, redistribute by donating food to save it, reuse to creatively utilize leftovers, and recycle, even by composting. The Strategy included various initiatives in the areas of evaluation, dissemination and promotion; studies, innovation, and cooperation. Much of the effort focused on changing the consumer as the final recipient of the agri-food chain, given their powerful position in making purchasing decisions and shaping the market. In this regard, activities were carried out in schools, with "Weeks Against Food Waste," and with information and awareness campaigns.

From the beginning, it was considered that this Strategy should be implemented through recommendations, voluntary agreements and self-regulation, as it was understood that the agents of the food chain themselves should show their commitment and adhere to the Strategy, convinced by themselves of the need to act to reduce this problem.

However, as other documents have shown, the first major challenge has been to understand exactly what the problem is and how large it is. Therefore, work has been underway with stakeholders in the food supply chain to conduct studies that have identified the stages at which food loss and waste occur, their quantification, and their economic and social impact. The first of these was the Monographic Study on Food Waste from the 2013 Barometer of Confidence in the Agri-food Sector, which concluded that the vast majority of distributors withdrew an average of 5.6% of their products because they had exceeded their best-before and expiration dates, and that most consumers said they knew the difference between expiration and best-before dates, although there was room for improvement. After the study was repeated in 2015, the number of withdrawals had decreased slightly, but the food ended up in the same place as before: the trash. Meanwhile, 95% of people believe that supermarkets should donate products that are about to expire and that they know they will not sell to food banks.

In 2014, the Panel for quantifying food waste in Spanish households was put into operation, and later, the Panel for quantifying food waste outside the households. These stable, evolving and long-term measurement systems provide detailed information on food that is thrown away as purchased, as well as on leftovers from recipes prepared at home that end up in the trash, and on food and beverages consumed outside the home.

According to data from the Panel for Quantifying Food Waste in Spanish Households, the evolution of food waste since measurements began has been uneven, although it has been observed that particularly warm seasons (the summer of 2015, as well as the summer and autumn of 2018) have coincided with higher levels of waste. After several periods in which the general trend was decreasing, the highest value in the series was reached in the autumn-winter of 2018-19 (712.2 million kg of waste). In total, 1,352.5 million kg were wasted in 2019, an increase of 1% compared to 2018, although waste has been gradually decreasing since then.

According to data from spring-summer 2020, during the pandemic the number of households wasting food decreased slightly to 74.4% (compared to 79% in 2019), despite a significant increase in household consumption. The volume of food waste also decreased by 2.6% compared to spring-summer 2019.

In 2020, total food waste reached approximately 25 million kg per week, equivalent to almost 1.4 kg per household. Over 80% of this waste consists of unused products discarded due to spoilage. The largest volume of waste is from fruits, vegetables, and dairy products, which together account for more than 50% of all unused products. The most wasted recipes are those involving legumes, stews, and soups or purées.

Furthermore, according to data from the Panel for Quantifying Food Waste Outside the Household, the total waste generated by consumers in their out-of-home consumption over a 12-month period (autumn-winter + spring-summer 2020) was 30.5 million kg, representing approximately 0.9 kg per capita. The most wasted foods during this period were vegetables, meat, and bread, which together accounted for more than 50% of the total. Among beverages, cold drinks, especially soft drinks, water, and beer, stood out, accounting for around 75% of the waste.

The second stage of the Strategy went further into the original objectives, through eight axes: knowledge generation, training and awareness, promotion of good practices, collaboration with other agents, sectoral agreements, regulatory aspects, research and innovation and waste, environment and climate change.

In this new phase, the Ministry quantified the waste generated in industry and distribution in Spain, where it was observed that awareness of the importance of preventing and reducing waste is progressively growing, as well as the view that only through collaboration can this problem be reduced and tackled.

It was also found that companies are increasingly aware of the importance of combating food waste, with 71% having a plan to address it. 61.1% promote internal practices, and 51.39% take action with upstream and downstream suppliers to reduce food waste.

It follows that there is a search for more efficient production. From the production of each kg of finished product in the food industry, 0.0022 kg of by-products are generated and 0.004 kg of waste, which implies that companies are working to utilize as much food as possible.

The practices they primarily use to combat food waste include training and raising awareness among employees and suppliers through courses, talks, visits, and other means. They also implement thorough controls of processes and machinery to eliminate inefficiencies. Furthermore, this study also focused on the impact of COVID-19 on food waste, highlighting that over 20% of companies have increased their food donations. It also noted greater solidarity, with 9 out of 10 companies donating to NGOs.

The results of these years of the Strategy have shown progress in developing actions that have contributed to changing attitudes, work systems, and management practices, seeking to limit food waste and reduce environmental pressures. With the Strategy's term ending in 2020, this law represents the next step in addressing the serious problem of food waste, with the aim of incorporating into the legal framework a series of principles and regulations that will allow us to tackle it and lay the foundations for its eradication.

III

However, efforts to combat food waste appear to have been insufficient. For this reason, and because the problem of food loss and waste affects all links in the supply chain and is influenced by numerous factors, the need for a standard that promotes the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste is evident. The challenge of such a standard is to prevent and curb the generation of food loss and waste, as well as the adverse impacts of its generation, utilization, and valorization throughout the food chain. To ensure that all links in the supply chain are efficient in achieving this objective, the participation of all sectors of society is necessary. This includes the involvement of public administrations, companies and operators related to the food chain, associations, third-sector organizations, and food banks (which support disadvantaged people), as well as society as a whole, in the development and implementation of the standard. Only in this way is it possible to reduce food loss and waste at all levels of the supply chain.

Combating food loss and waste is key to achieving sustainability. Preventing and reducing food loss and waste benefits all links in the food chain, and recovering and distributing surplus food has significant social implications. Within this framework, this law on preventing and reducing food loss and waste, the adverse impacts of its generation, and its use and valorization throughout the food chain aims to promote the circular bioeconomy; reduce food waste through more efficient management of resources allocated to agricultural production and better water resource management, preventing agricultural surpluses that could be lost or wasted and that could provide clear benefits for food security; raise awareness and inform stakeholders in production, processing, distribution, hospitality, restaurants, consumers, and the general public; and encourage food donation while guaranteeing food safety and traceability. To promote the recovery and distribution of surplus food for social solidarity purposes, prioritizing it for human use, and to encourage research, innovation, and awareness-raising activities in the field of food waste reduction.

Preventing food waste contributes to improving the efficiency of the food system, promotes the circular bioeconomy and the comprehensive use of resources and by-products.

Among the aims of the law, it is worth highlighting that of responding to the objective on responsible production and consumption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To this end, in addition to other measures, food waste generation will be reduced in primary production, processing and manufacturing, retail and other food distribution channels, restaurants and food services, as well as in households, aiming for a 50% reduction in per capita food waste at the retail and consumption levels, and a 20% reduction in food losses along production and supply chains by 2030, compared to 2020. This is therefore a highly important and timely initiative due to its net contribution to achieving more sustainable food systems, advancing the SDGs, especially SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, and SDG 13: Climate Action.

It is also worth noting that the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan, the Long-Term Decarbonization Strategy (2050), and the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (2021-2030) all include measures and lines of action for reducing food waste, which this future law would allow to be activated and accelerated, thus contributing to Spain's climate objectives set out in Law 7/2021 of May 20, on climate change and energy transition. All of this is in line with the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy, Spain Circular 2030, and its First Circular Economy Action Plan 2021-2023, within the framework of the EU's 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan for a Cleaner and More Competitive Europe, which includes section 2.2 on food waste with three measures and mentions the "Food, Water, and Nutrients" value chain as one of the key value chains in this context. Specifically, these three measures are: regulatory developments for the reduction of food waste, as is the case with this law; the generation of knowledge about food waste, such as the Household Waste Quantification Panel; and the reduction of food waste in distribution, restaurants and hotels through the adoption of voluntary agreements and plans that will specify measures, best practices and objectives for waste reduction.

The rule starts from the assumption

The understanding is that awareness measures alone are not enough; they must be accompanied by significant structural reforms in the food production, processing, and supply chain, which must be financially supported, and by a decisive push from public authorities to undertake the crucial transformation that current reality demands.

IV

Within this framework, the present law is approved, which consists of 23 articles, structured in six chapters.

Chapter I, "General Provisions", incorporates the purpose of the law which, in essence, is the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste by all agents in the food chain, and its scope of application, which prefigures the content of the regulation itself: the activities carried out by agents whether they are from the production, processing, distribution of food, as well as hospitality, catering, other entities and associations for food donation and the Public Administration.

In addition to establishing the definitions of the concepts applicable to the standard, the guiding principles are regulated, such as efficiency in the use of resources or the promotion of food donation, with special emphasis on collaboration between public administrations.

Excluded from the scope of this law are the activities of product withdrawal due to crisis management measures in the Operational Programs for Fruits and Vegetables, the withdrawal of bananas within the framework of the Community Program of Support for Agricultural Production in the Canary Islands (POSEI), or other measures under any crisis prevention and management mechanism or market regulation provided for in Community legislation, since producer organizations have among the crisis management measures mechanisms for product withdrawal from the market that are practically coinciding with the objectives set by this law.

On the other hand, the primary destination for these withdrawn products is free distribution to people in need, accounting for over 44% of withdrawals by volume in the last year, while over 36% goes to animal feed and slightly less than 19% to biodegradation and composting. Furthermore, including crisis management measures in the fruit and vegetable sector could disrupt this balance, which we consider desirable.

One of the essential aspects is the hierarchy of priorities that the agents must apply in this matter, so as to ensure optimal use, in accordance with waste regulations, always prioritizing prevention and use in human food and setting the succession of priorities to be taken into account if the above is not possible, such as valorization or use as by-products.

Chapter II regulates the obligations of actors in the food chain, establishing a list of issues that all actors must bear in mind, thus serving as a common foundation for their activities. This list is supplemented in specific aspects with obligations aimed at particular activities in order to refine the coherence of the system ratione materiae.

Thus, for example, a key horizontal obligation for all stakeholders is to apply the hierarchy of priorities established in this law to food loss and waste at any stage of the food chain where such losses and waste occur under their control. This includes adopting appropriate measures for its implementation within their specific regulatory framework, providing suitable handling facilities, and training and raising awareness among workers and volunteers. Alongside this set of provisions, the law includes specific mandates for public administrations as guarantors of the public interest, such as conducting awareness and promotional campaigns to encourage responsible food consumption and promote the prevention and reduction of food losses.

In any case, it should be borne in mind that this regulation is not intended to be the only way in which the basic needs of the most vulnerable citizens should be met, since the distribution of food to prevent waste is an extraordinary and exceptional measure that serves various purposes of general interest. However, the coverage of basic needs must always be guaranteed through standardized mechanisms that respect human dignity and allow people to make decisions about how to feed themselves. In this regard, it is worth remembering that food is a human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Chapter III outlines the recommendations for public administrations, businesses selling to the end consumer, and hospitality companies, establishing a list of issues that all stakeholders must consider, thus serving as a common foundation for their activities. For example, measures that include promoting donations for social purposes and educating and raising awareness among consumers about food waste are highlighted.

Chapter IV focuses on streamlining best-before dates to contribute to preventing and reducing food loss and waste. It includes a mandate to promote the alignment of best-before dates with the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste, within the framework of European regulations.

Chapter V sets out the instruments for promoting and controlling the reduction and prevention of food loss and waste, including measures to promote self-regulation and establishing the system for the application and control of this public policy. This includes a Strategic Plan for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste, which will contain the general strategy for food waste policy, the guidelines and structure to which regional programs must conform, as well as the minimum objectives to be met for prevention and elimination; the National Plan for the control of food loss and waste, which will be reviewed at least every four years, containing the general objectives and priorities of the control tasks to be carried out by the competent authorities in this area; and the annual report that will include the results of the implementation of the National Plan for the control of food loss and waste.

In this regard, it is essential to ensure coordinated work among all administrative levels to enable effective control, genuine and shared support, and a thorough understanding and design of appropriate multi-level governance for an area with significant overlap of responsibilities. This must converge on the application of food waste policy based on shared leadership and cooperative efforts. Thus, within the framework of the Strategic Plan, regional and, where applicable, local programs and executive tasks related to control will be approved. These tasks, which must be carried out systematically and with sufficient frequency, will be framed within the National Plan for the Control of Food Loss and Waste. Finally, based on regional information, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will produce an annual report summarizing the results of the implementation of the National Plan for the Control of Food Loss and Waste, as developed by the competent public administrations. This coordination is achieved through the integration of policies and measures to achieve a goal that is cross-cutting to all of them, such as the reduction of food waste, in response to the consideration of the European Parliament Resolution of 19 January 2012, which called for the design of appropriate multi-level governance for an area where there is an intense overlap of competences, which must converge in an application of the food waste policy based on shared leadership and cooperative efforts.

Finally, Chapter VI sets out the sanctions regime, defining the infractions and including the basic sanctions in this area, so as to ensure a wide margin for the regional regulations to decide what their system of infractions and sanctions should be, within a basic framework that ensures a reasonable common regulatory minimum.

Finally, the law is completed with a final part consisting of eight additional provisions, one transitional provision, one repealing provision and twenty final provisions which provide for the corresponding provisions on the competence title, the regulatory authorizations, and the entry into force, as well as on the coordinated methodology for quantifying food waste, loss and residue.

The regulation also incorporates an amendment to Law 9/2017, of November 8, on Public Sector Contracts, which transposes into Spanish law Directives 2014/23/EU and 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of February 26, 2014, in order to include as a condition in the tender specifications for food services in public institutions that the supplier includes appropriate practices from the point of view of the prevention of food waste and compliance with this law.

Law 10/2009, of October 20, establishing State advisory bodies in the agri-food sector and determining the basis for representation of agricultural professional organizations, was key at the time in establishing an objective system for determining the representativeness of agricultural organizations at the national level. It represented a fundamental step forward, establishing a system for measuring representativeness based on commonly accepted criteria.

Law 10/2009, of October 20, required obtaining at least fifteen percent of the votes in all the electoral processes carried out by the autonomous communities for their participation in autonomous consultative bodies and entities, having participated, at a minimum, in electoral processes of nine autonomous communities, or failing that, having been recognized as such in at least ten autonomous communities.

Law 12/2014, of July 9, which regulates the procedure for determining the representativeness of professional agricultural organizations and creates the Agrarian Council, established a mechanism for public, direct and simultaneous consultation throughout the national territory to measure the representativeness of professional agricultural organizations of a general nature and national scope.

The procedure established by Law 12/2014 of July 9 is exhaustive, but its practical application presents difficulties from material, economic, and even teleological perspectives. For example, it suffices to mention the significant deployment of human and material resources it would require, especially given the anticipated in-person participation at polling stations distributed throughout the country, its high economic cost, the differences between the national and regional electoral processes, which affect the electoral roll and the very structure of the processes, potentially leading to disparate results within the same territory, and the duplication of consultations in certain autonomous communities.

In any case, the determination of the representativeness of agricultural professional organizations under this system was subject to further regulatory development pursuant to the third final provision of the aforementioned law. Therefore, the representativeness system established by this law has not yet been implemented a decade after its approval.

The representativeness of professional agricultural organizations, on a transitional basis, therefore, continues to reside in those that obtained such recognition under its predecessor, Law 10/2009, of October 20, on the creation of State advisory bodies in the agri-food field and on the determination of the bases of representation of professional agricultural organizations.

Although Law 10/2009, of October 20, provided in its article 6 for the five-year evaluation of representativeness, this was interrupted on July 30, 2014 with the entry into force of Law 12/2014, of July 9, making it impossible to update the representativeness of agricultural organizations due to the loss of validity of the rule that regulated such recognition, which reflects a reality that has evolved over time.

Consequently, given the significant difficulties in convening a consultation under the terms provided for in Law 12/2014, of July 9, it is necessary to modify the rule of representativeness of national professional agricultural organizations, establishing a new system that ensures the effective consideration of such representativeness.

In the spirit of consensus and with the aim of giving the process the necessary social legitimacy to be accepted by professional agricultural organizations and to allow them to efficiently serve the function of intermediation and dialogue with public authorities, this law establishes a procedure for determining the most representative professional agricultural organizations of a general nature and state scope.

Procedure in which certain requirements have been included to ensure that the entities that can participate are professional agricultural organizations of a general nature and state scope, constituted and recognized under Law 19/1977, of April 1, which have among their statutory purposes the defense of the general interests of agriculture and with a wide territorial presence.

Furthermore, a procedure is established for determining its most representative character and its representativeness at the state level, based exclusively on accreditations issued by the autonomous communities; accreditation that must consider the electoral processes held or, failing that, other systems of determining representativeness recognized by the autonomous communities, or a verification of the implementation situation of the organizations in the autonomous communities.

All of this will allow for a determination of agricultural representativeness taking into account the full range of realities of the autonomous communities and agricultural professional organizations within them, thus ensuring representativeness consistent with the reality of the sector.

The most representative organizations at the state level will carry out institutional representation functions to defend their interests before the General State Administration and other state entities or bodies, and will have the rights inherent to their status as such. In particular, this regulation governs the essential conditions of the Agrarian Council, which is established as the advisory collegiate body attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for the purpose of advising the General State Administration on matters of general agricultural and rural interest. Its regulation will be further developed through implementing regulations, as will other aspects related to the presence of these organizations in the participatory bodies of the General State Administration, as well as the direct aid that will be granted and its distribution, in consideration of their status as the most representative organizations.

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During its processing, the project has been subject to public hearing, information and participation, and the affected autonomous communities and the representative entities of the interests of the affected sectors have been consulted.

The text of this standard has been submitted to the European Commission's communication procedure in accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and rules on information society services and Royal Decree 1337/1999 of 31 July, which regulates the submission of information on technical standards and regulations and rules relating to information society services.

This rule is issued under the provisions of rule 13 of article 149.1 of the Spanish Constitution, which attributes to the State competence over the bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity, as well as the provisions of article 149.1.23, which attributes to the State competence over basic legislation on environmental protection.

The regulations contained in this standard comply with the principles set forth in Article 129 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations. Thus, in accordance with the principles of necessity and effectiveness, the project is justified by the need for the coherent application of European Union regulations and international initiatives in Spain. This is the most appropriate instrument to guarantee its implementation, as it is necessary for the regulations to be included in a basic standard and to fulfill the purpose of adopting various measures aimed at preventing and reducing food loss and waste by all actors in the food chain, given its negative effects. The principle of proportionality is met, and the regulations are limited to the minimum necessary to comply with said regulations. Therefore, the proposal contains the essential regulations to address the need covered by the standard, after verifying that no other less restrictive measures exist that impose fewer obligations on the recipients to achieve the objective. The principle of legal certainty is met by establishing the new provisions in a general regulation, which is also consistent with the rest of the national and European legal framework. The principle of transparency is also met, as the autonomous communities and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as representative entities of the affected sectors, were consulted during the drafting of the regulation. Furthermore, the draft was made available through a public consultation, ensuring easy, universal, and up-to-date access to current regulations and documents related to its drafting process. The objectives of the regulatory initiative and their justification are clearly defined in the preamble, and potential stakeholders were given the opportunity to actively participate in its development. Finally, with regard to the principle of efficiency, no new administrative burdens are imposed, and public intervention is limited to essential aspects, opting for the most balanced solution.

CHAPTER I

General provisions

Article 1. Object and purposes of the law.

1. The purpose of this law is to prevent and reduce food loss and waste by all actors in the food chain, establishing a hierarchy of priorities for solutions and responding to the objective of responsible food production and consumption in the 2030 Agenda.

2. The specific purposes of this law are:

a) Reduce food loss and waste throughout the agri-food chain by more efficient resource management, thereby promoting the circular economy.

b) Clearly define what is meant by food loss and waste, in a comprehensive way throughout the agri-food chain and in each of its links.

c) Promote the donation and redistribution of food, guaranteeing food safety and traceability.

d) To analyze in depth the causes and consequences of food loss and waste, promoting research and innovation in the field of prevention and reduction of food loss and waste.

e) To make progress in the rigorous and regularly updated quantitative and qualitative measurement of food waste generated at different stages of our food system, based on a common methodology that allows for comparative studies between municipalities and autonomous communities, as well as within the European Union and internationally. Autonomous communities may stipulate in their regulations that their competent authorities must carry out such measurements within their respective territories.

f) To lay the foundations so that social initiative entities, other non-profit organizations that provide distribution services for food donation and the rest of the agents involved, can receive the necessary public means and resources to cover the logistics required, including transport, processing and storage, so that unsold food can be used through donation.

g) Incorporate into our legal system consistency with the objective of reducing food loss and waste.

(h) To respond to the objective on responsible production and consumption of the 2030 Agenda by reducing the generation of food waste in primary production, processing and manufacturing, retail and other types of food distribution, in restaurants and food services, as well as in households, so as to achieve a 50% reduction in per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level and a 20% reduction in food losses along production and supply chains by 2030, compared to 2020, as a contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

i) Promote accountability of all agents in the food chain regarding food loss and waste, as well as learning regarding prevention and reduction processes.

j) Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

k) Establish the hierarchy of priorities that the operators of the chain must take into account, in the management of food losses and waste, the generation of which could not be avoided.

l) To raise awareness, train and inform agents of production, processing, distribution, hospitality, catering, consumers and the general public and to promote awareness activities in the field of prevention and reduction of food loss and waste and proper management of food and its waste, without prejudice to the necessary guarantees of food safety, quality and hygiene.

3. These are strategies for achieving the aims of the law:

a) To raise awareness and inform food chain agents and other food service providers, consumers and the general public.

b) Promote the distribution of food for donation, ensuring food safety and traceability.

c) Promote the recovery and distribution of surplus food for donation for social solidarity purposes, assigning them as a priority for human use.

d) To promote research and innovation and awareness-raising activities in the field of prevention and reduction of food loss and waste.

Article 2. Scope of application.

This law applies to the activities carried out in Spanish territory by agents of the food chain, whether they are from the production, processing, distribution of food, as well as hospitality, catering, other entities and associations for the distribution of donated food and the Public Administration, without prejudice to the provisions of Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy, and other waste or health regulations that may apply to it.

Excluded from the scope of this law are the withdrawal of products due to crisis management measures in the Operational Programs for Fruits and Vegetables, the withdrawal of bananas within the framework of the Community Program of Support for Agricultural Production in the Canary Islands (POSEI), or other measures under any crisis prevention and management mechanism or market regulation provided for in Community legislation.

Article 3. Definitions.

In addition to the definitions included in Law 7/2022, of April 8, for the purposes of this law the following definitions apply:

a) Food chain agents: operators belonging to the primary sector, including cooperatives and other associative entities, entities or companies for the processing, manufacture or distribution of food, retail businesses, companies in the hospitality or catering sector and other food service providers, entities of the Third Sector of social action, social initiative and other non-profit organizations that provide services for the distribution of donated food, and public administrations.

(b) Food or foodstuff: the definition provided for in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety shall apply.

c) Food waste: the part of food intended to be ingested by humans and which ends up being discarded as waste.

d) Food losses: agricultural and food products that, for any reason, remain on the farm itself, either reincorporated into the soil or used to make compost in situ and whose final destination would have been human food.

e) Other food service providers: health centers, educational centers, penitentiary centers, foreign detention centers, social service residences, and in general all permanent establishments that offer catering or dining service.

f) Micro-enterprises: companies that employ fewer than ten people and have an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total not exceeding two million euros.

g) Food waste: all food, as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002, which has become waste, i.e., which its holder has disposed of or intends or is obliged to dispose of, as indicated in Article 2(a) of Law 7/2022 of 8 April.

h) Gleaning or gleaning: the gleaning of food that has been left in the field after the main harvest, or of the sown crops not collected, with the authorization of the owner or owners of the farm, as a complementary non-profit activity intended to prevent food losses and waste.

Article 4. Guiding principles.

Activities aimed at preventing and reducing food loss and waste for all actors in the food chain will be governed by the following principles:

a) Efficiency in the use of natural, social, economic and productive resources of the food chain, not prioritizing only the economic aspect and ensuring the sustainability of our food system.

b) Prevention, so as to promote the adoption of measures aimed at preventing food from being lost or wasted, reducing the amount of food loss and waste through reuse, and reducing the impact of emissions and waste generation on the environment and human health.

c) Hierarchy of priorities in accordance with the provisions of this law and the regulations governing waste, within their respective regulatory frameworks.

d) Promote the donation of food for human consumption and other types of redistribution, prioritizing it over other uses such as animal feed and transformation into non-food products in accordance with the hierarchy of priorities of this law and the regulations governing waste, within their respective regulatory frameworks.

e) Promote education and awareness regarding the prevention of food loss and waste among the general public.

f) Generate the necessary legal certainty in the relations between donor and recipient agents to carry out the donation tasks through the agreements or collaboration agreements established in article 7.

In any case, those responsible for environmental damage must pay to cover the costs, in accordance with the "polluter pays" principle, as regulated by Law 26/2007 of October 23, on Environmental Liability, which expressly regulates the responsibility of operators to prevent, avoid, and repair environmental damage, pursuant to Article 45 of the Constitution and the principles of prevention and "polluter pays." Furthermore, the application of this principle in waste policy will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 11 of Law 7/2022 of April 8, regarding the cost of managing the waste generated. Specifically, the aim is to ensure that the polluter controls, reduces, and prevents pollution, and to provide legal resources for justice, enforcement, and compensation for environmental and health damages, bearing in mind that the "polluter pays" principle and the precautionary principle are two sides of the same coin.

Article 5. Hierarchy of priorities of the agents in the food chain.

1. Food chain agents will implement all possible measures and will have as their primary obligation to prevent food loss and waste, incorporating rational production, purchasing and management criteria based on specific needs that prevent the generation of surpluses.

They must also adapt their actions to the following hierarchy of priorities, in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 of Law 7/2022, of April 8, for food waste:

a) Firstly, attention will be paid to the prevention of food loss and waste, incorporating the transformation of agricultural products or foods that have not been sold, but are still suitable for human consumption, into other alternative products for human consumption.

b) For those surpluses whose generation could not be prevented, the following order of priority will be followed:

1st. Donations of food and other types of redistribution for human consumption will be carried out.

2. Failing that, the food will be used for animal feed and the manufacture of animal feed within the corresponding regulatory framework and in particular Ministerial Order APM 189/2018, of February 20, which determines when production waste from the agri-food industry intended for animal feed is a by-product in accordance with Law 7/2022, of April 8.

3. In the absence of all the above, they will be used as by-products in another industry.

c) And ultimately, as waste, to recycling and, in particular, to obtaining high-quality compost and digestate for use in soils to improve them, and, when the above is not possible, for energy recovery through the production of biogas or fuels. In this case, the provisions of Article 8.1 of Law 7/2022, of April 8, shall apply.

2. The hierarchy of priorities set out in paragraph 1 shall always apply; however, it may be possible to adapt the actions of food chain stakeholders according to the specific characteristics of their activity or the sector, or if a better result in reducing food waste is achieved. In such cases, the reasons must be justified, whether based on technical feasibility, food safety, economic viability, environmental protection, or greater efficiency in management at previous stages, among others. This possibility of adaptation and its justification may be further developed by regulation, which will specify the means and method for justifying the impossibility of adapting actions to the priorities set out in this article.

3. To facilitate the application of the hierarchy of priorities and prevent waste generation by supply chain operators and consumers, the competent authorities may use economic instruments and other incentive measures, in particular those related to guaranteeing coverage of production costs, innovation, food safety in food donation, and the availability of facilities and resources by social initiative entities and other non-profit organizations or food banks.

CHAPTER II

Obligations of agents in the food chain

Article 6. General obligations for all agents in the food chain.

1. All agents in the food chain have the obligation to apply to food loss and waste the hierarchy of priorities, which this law dictates in accordance with article 5, in any of the links of the food chain in which they are generated under their control and to adopt appropriate measures for its application, without prejudice to the provisions of Law 7/2022, of April 8, and other waste regulations that apply to them.

2. All agents in the food chain have the obligation to apply the measures provided for in Article 19 of Law 7/2022, of April 8, for the reduction of food waste, especially the provisions relating to food donation.

3. No contractual stipulation may expressly prevent the donation of food, and such stipulation shall be null and void.

4. In addition, all agents in the food chain have the following obligations:

a) Have an implementation plan for the prevention of food loss and waste that outlines how the hierarchy of priorities established in Article 5 will be applied. In the case of operators operating in more than one autonomous community, this obligation may be fulfilled through a joint integrated plan. If operating in autonomous communities where specific regulations require a plan, the joint integrated plan must comply with the requirements established by the regional regulations in the communities where they operate.

b) Promote agreements or contracts to donate their surplus food to social initiative entities and other non-profit organizations or food banks, except in cases where it is not feasible and is duly justified in accordance with article 5.2.

c) The obligations of this section four do not apply to processing, retail, food distribution, hospitality, or catering activities carried out in establishments of 1,300 m² or less in the case of businesses that do not have a sales area to the public, or with a usable floor area for display and sales to the public of 1,300 m² or less in the case of businesses with a sales area to the public. In any case, regardless of their surface area, establishments operating under the same tax identification code and which, in total, exceed 1,300 m² in surface area, taking into account the above criteria, will be subject to these obligations.

5. All agents in the food chain have the obligation to avoid actions aimed at leaving food in conditions unsuitable for consumption or valorization.

6. Micro-enterprises are excluded from the obligations referred to in the preceding sections of this article.

7. Small agricultural holdings, as defined in accordance with the Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2023 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (2003/361/EC), are excluded from the obligations of this law.

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Article 7. Minimum content of donation agreements or contracts.

The agreement or contract provided for in Article 6.4.b) must include at least the following content:

1. The conditions for the collection, transport and storage of the products.

2. The commitments of the agents in the chain.

3. The selection of the food to be donated will be made by the donor agent.

4. The possibility that the receiving organization may reject the donation, which must be duly justified. The donor must apply the hierarchy of priorities set out in section 1 of article 5 for the management of the rejected donation. The donor will decide the conditions of return (collection and transport), in accordance with the formal agreement.

Article 8. Specific obligations for hospitality and catering companies.

Food chain agents that are hospitality companies and other food service providers will have the obligation to allow the consumer to take away, at no additional cost other than, where applicable, that mentioned in the following paragraph, any food that they have not consumed, except in the form of buffet service or similar, where the availability of food is not limited, as well as informing of this possibility clearly and visibly in the establishment itself, preferably on the menu.

For this purpose, food-grade, reusable, or easily recyclable containers will be used. For single-use plastic food containers, the provisions of Title V of Law 7/2022 of April 8 must be taken into account, especially those relating to the need to reduce their consumption in order to meet the objectives of Article 55.1 of said law and the obligation to charge for them, as well as those set out in Article 18 of Royal Decree 1021/2022 of December 13, which regulates certain hygiene requirements for the production and marketing of food products in retail establishments.

Companies or entities managing catering or collective and social dining facilities, in collaboration with educational or socio-health centers, may establish awareness, education and training programs on reducing food waste aimed at kitchen and dining staff, as well as the center's staff and its users.

Article 9. Specific obligations for companies and social initiative entities and other non-profit organizations that are dedicated to the distribution of food for the donation of food suitable for human consumption.

Food chain operators that are businesses, social initiative entities and other non-profit organizations engaged in the distribution of food for donation as food suitable for human consumption, in addition to complying with the provisions of Chapter V bis of Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, have the following obligations:

a) Ensure the traceability of donated products through a system for recording the entry and exit of food received and delivered. Individuals providing food on an ad hoc basis at community events or other charitable activities, as well as charitable, social, or humanitarian organizations that occasionally receive food from private donors, are excluded from the traceability obligations.

b) Maintain proper hygiene practices in the storage and handling of food under their control, assuming management from the moment the product is delivered by the donor. They must have the appropriate facilities and equipment to guarantee its quality and food safety, including devices to maintain the cold chain, where necessary.

c) To make the donation and distribution of food without discrimination based on disability, age, sex, health, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, nationality, foreign administrative status, racial or ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, territory or any other personal or social condition or circumstance, as well as to ensure respect for human rights.

d) To allocate the donated products received to people in vulnerable situations, expressly prohibiting their commercialization. This prohibition will not apply to entities included in article 5.4 of Law 5/2011, of March 29, on Social Economy.

e) Link the donation of the products received to the promotion of projects that enable the employment and socio-labor integration of people in vulnerable situations, working from a community and social cohesion perspective.

f) To encourage the donation of food received from a community and social cohesion perspective, linking it to projects that enable employment and socio-labor integration of people in vulnerable situations.

(g) Provide food information to the final beneficiary in accordance with national and European rules relating to the provision of food information to consumers and, in particular, with Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011.

Article 10. Consumer Rights.

Consumers have the right to:

a) To receive information from public administrations and companies in the food chain on measures to reduce food waste in households and restaurants, as well as on programs established for the prevention of food loss and waste.

b) To receive information from social initiative entities and other non-profit organizations or food banks, about the characteristics, conditions and state of the food they receive as a donation.

c) Take away from hospitality businesses and other food service providers any food that has not been consumed, taking into account the provisions of Article 8.

Article 11. Specific obligations for public administrations.

1. Public administrations have the following obligations:

a) Promote collaboration with other administrations and agents in the food chain in the fight against food loss and waste, encouraging the development of innovative solutions in this regard and particularly promoting public-private and public-community collaboration.

b) Carry out awareness and promotion campaigns to encourage responsible food consumption and promote the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste.

c) Develop guidelines for good practices aimed at improving food management and thereby reducing food loss and waste.

d) Provide information on food loss and waste prevention programs.

e) To make available to food chain agents guidelines for the preparation of plans for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste.

f) To educate and raise awareness among consumers about food waste in order to better plan menus and purchases, in sustainable purchasing (such as fresh, seasonal, local or regional foods), in the use-of-waste kitchen, good storage practices, the correct interpretation of expiry and best before dates, and the recycling and packaging materials.

g) Promote waste prevention and inform consumers about more responsible consumption habits.

h) To advise, promote and inform companies and entities of social initiative and other non-profit organizations that are dedicated to the distribution of food for the donation and redistribution of food suitable for human consumption.

i) Promote the creation of new businesses for the prevention and channeling of food surpluses.

j) Promote the creation of new businesses aimed at adding value to surplus food, following the circular economy strategy.

k) Support research and innovation in prevention and in the search for technological solutions that extend the life of food or its reuse and valorization and the transfer of this knowledge to companies.

l) Promote the consumption of quality products.

m) To investigate, support research and studies and collect data that allow us to know the magnitude of the problem of food loss and waste (volumes, causes, responsibilities), as well as potential prevention solutions for all stages of the agri-food chain and sectors of the agri-food system.

n) Promote the creation of public-private and public-community networks that facilitate coordination in the prevention of surpluses and in their subsequent management in the event that they occur.

n) Ensure legislative coherence with the objective of reducing food loss and waste by coordinating existing legislative initiatives in this area and all those that may be developed after the publication of this law.

o) Support the rigorous and regularly updated quantitative and qualitative measurement of food waste generated at different stages of our food system.

p) To develop and implement, within the framework of their respective powers, the instruments and action programs established for the achievement of the objectives foreseen in this law.

q) Include in school feeding programs elements of awareness and information and measures to educate on the prevention of losses and the reduction of food waste.

r) Develop best practice guides for charitable organizations, aimed at informing them on how to ensure the traceability of the food received.

2. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food:

a) It will measure and analyze food waste and consumer waste outside the home, using methodologies that allow for the recurrent comparison of the temporal evolution in the prevention of food loss and waste, in accordance with the parameters established in Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/2587.

b) It will publish its food waste measurement data on a regular basis, at least annually.

c) It shall publish all the information it has regarding food waste at each link in the chain using open and machine-readable formats together with its metadata, in accordance with the specifications of Law 37/2007, of November 16, on the reuse of public sector information, and in particular shall ensure that the information that is made public at the time is subject to the general conditions of reuse provided for in Article 8 of the aforementioned law.

d) It will promote collaboration between different agents in the chain for the fulfillment of the objectives set out in this law.

e) It will establish the necessary channels of coordination and cooperation with other affected Ministries and with the autonomous communities, in order to guarantee that the criteria for administrative control are comprehensive, coordinated, equivalent and proportionate throughout the national territory.

3. Within the framework of the Strategic Plan provided for in Article 17, the autonomous communities will develop programming instruments for basic and complementary measures to achieve the objectives provided for in this law, in dialogue with the local administrations of their territory.

4. To achieve the above objectives, the Government may establish by regulation specific objectives per year and link in the chain, also contemplating incentive measures for prevention or reduction.

CHAPTER III

Good practice measures for agents in the food chain

Article 12. Good practice measures to be implemented by companies that sell food to the final consumer.

1. Companies must ensure that information on the safety of consuming products with imperfections or defects is improved, and promote sales lines for these products, as well as for more sustainably produced foods, always complying with the marketing standards in force in the European Union.

2. Public administrations together with companies that sell food to the end consumer may apply the following voluntary measures:

a) To have adequate infrastructure so that the handling, storage and transport processes are carried out under optimal conditions, minimizing food losses and waste.

b) Work on the development of specific protocols to minimize food loss and waste throughout the transport and storage chain.

c) Encourage the sale of products with a near best before or expiry date, according to the hierarchy of priorities.

d) In the case of retail establishments, have sales lines with "ugly", "imperfect" or "unattractive" products, always complying with the marketing standards in force in the European Union, promote the consumption of seasonal, local, organic and environmentally sustainable products and incorporate and improve information on the use of food.

e) In the case of retail establishments, display in a place visible to consumers information on the safety and benefits of consuming products with imperfections or defects.

f) To train and raise awareness among people, whether they are subject to an employment or volunteering relationship, so that they actively participate in the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste and involve them in this action.

g) Display in a place visible to consumers proposals from the competent authorities relating to better menu planning, shopping, sustainable purchasing (such as fresh, seasonal, local or organic food), leftover cooking, good storage practices, correct interpretation of expiry and best before dates, and recycling and packaging materials to raise consumer awareness of these issues.

h) Promote information and awareness campaigns to prevent food loss and waste and to publicize the impact on economic, social and environmental sustainability that they entail, and to raise awareness of the need to promote responsible consumption.

i) Promote good business practices to prevent food loss and waste.

j) Promote or collaborate with civic, community, citizen participation and volunteer projects that aim to raise awareness and promote practices to prevent food loss and waste, preferably projects for social and labor integration or care for vulnerable groups.

Article 13. Good practice measures for the hospitality sector and other food service providers.

Public administrations, together with the hospitality sector and other food service providers, may apply the following measures:

a) To promote, whenever feasible –taking into account activities which, due to their special characteristics or their theme, must acquire products that are not local in order to ensure that they meet the services offered and the consumer's expectation– the incorporation of sustainable purchasing criteria (such as fresh, seasonal, local or organic food) to reduce the environmental footprint and promote the local economy.

b) Promote menu flexibility, so that consumers can choose side dishes or portions of different sizes.

c) Promote food donation for social purposes and other types of redistribution for human consumption.

d) Promote the delivery of food waste to composting facilities in accordance with waste regulations.

e) Improve the quality of the segregated organic fraction, for its proper delivery to composting facilities for food waste in accordance with waste regulations.

f) To train and raise awareness among people, whether they are subject to an employment or volunteering relationship, so that they actively participate in the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste and involve them in this action.

g) Promote information and awareness campaigns to prevent food loss and waste and to publicize the impact on economic, social and environmental sustainability that they entail, and to raise awareness of the need to promote responsible consumption.

CHAPTER IV

Rationalization of best before dates

Article 14. Rationalization of best before dates.

1. The Government will adopt public policies and measures to promote the alignment of best before dates with the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste. To this end, the criteria established by the European Union in the legislative and non-legislative provisions on the matter will be taken into account, in particular Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011, Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004, Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin, and the Commission Communication with guidelines on food safety management systems for the activities of food retailers, including food donation (2020/C199/01).

2. All administrations:

a) They will carry out training and information activities on the correct interpretation of expiry and best before dates for consumers, as well as for distributors and producers.

b) They will encourage food chain agents to adjust the best before dates of their products, up to the maximum that guarantees adequate product quality and food safety.

c) They will promote research and innovation on the viability of food to extend shelf life.

d) They will carry out industrial studies and research aimed at improving the marking of best before dates in relation to food quality, as well as optimizing production volume and improving transformation, storage and logistics processes to avoid food waste as much as possible.

CHAPTER V

Instruments for promoting and controlling the reduction and prevention of food loss and waste

Article 15. Incentives for good practices.

Public administrations will implement measures that encourage the implementation of the good practices planned to reduce waste included in articles 12 and 13 in accordance with the entities referred to in each article.

Article 16. Promotion of self-regulation.

Public administrations will promote voluntary regulation systems for agents in the supply chain, among others, with the participation of public administrations and interested civil society.

Article 17. Planning of the policy for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste.

1. The Government, in accordance with the guidelines established by the European institutions and proposed by the Ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; Industry and Tourism; Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge; Economy, Trade and Business; Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030; and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, after consulting with the autonomous communities and local entities, will draw up a Strategic Plan for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste, which will contain the general strategy of the food waste policy, the guidelines and structure to which the regional programs must conform, as well as the minimum objectives to be met for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste, and will be consistent with the strategic planning on food waste, from which it will take all relevant data.

To that effect, the measures of this Strategic Plan will form part of the specific section for the reduction of food waste of the State Program for the prevention of waste prepared in accordance with article 19 of Law 7/2022, of April 8.

2. The regional planning or programming instruments will be prepared after relevant consultations and will contain an updated analysis of the situation of food loss and waste in their territorial scope, the objectives to be achieved which will be consistent with those of the strategic plan, as well as an explanation of the measures to facilitate the achievement of said objectives.

These programs will reflect the objectives not achieved in the previous programming with their possible corrective measures and will determine the appropriate specific qualitative or quantitative benchmarks to assess the progress made in preventing and reducing food loss and waste.

3. Local authorities, within the framework of their powers, may develop, individually or in groups, food waste management programs in accordance with and in coordination with the Strategic Plan for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste and with regional programs.

4. In developing these plans and programs, special consideration will be given to measures that significantly reduce food loss and waste. In cases involving the management of surpluses whose generation could not be prevented, priority will be given to poverty reduction and ensuring food security.

5. The plans and programs will be evaluated and reviewed at least every four years.

6. All planning instruments provided for in this article shall be developed through a participatory process in which at least the most representative organizations of the agri-food sector in the corresponding territorial area, as well as the entities for the right to food, shall participate.

Article 18. National Plan for the control of food loss and waste.

1. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, after receiving reports from the Ministries of Industry and Tourism; for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge; Economy, Trade and Business; Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030; and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, and after consulting with the autonomous communities, will approve a National Plan for the control of food loss and waste, which will be reviewed at least every four years, and which will contain the general objectives and priorities of the control tasks to be carried out by the competent administrations in this matter.

This plan can be integrated into the Strategic Plan for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste.

2. The controls established for this purpose by the competent authorities shall be systematic, sufficiently frequent, in the places where agricultural or food products are produced, processed, stored, distributed or marketed and, occasionally, at any time and place where such products circulate or are found.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will establish the necessary channels of coordination and cooperation in order to ensure that the administrative control criteria are comprehensive, coordinated, equivalent and proportionate throughout the national territory.

Article 19. Annual Report.

1. On an annual basis, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will prepare a report detailing the results of the implementation of the National Plan for the Control of Food Loss and Waste, developed by the competent public authorities, and the corresponding quantifications of food loss and waste. This report, after consultation with the Autonomous Communities, will be submitted to the Spanish Parliament (Cortes Generales) for information and oversight purposes and will be made available to the competent public authorities, the State Secretariat for the Environment, and the public.

2. To this end, the competent authorities shall provide the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with the necessary information, for which the time limit and manner in which they shall supply the necessary information shall be established by regulation.

3. The General State Administration will provide the authorities carrying out controls with all the information that may have any impact on the control.

4. This report will take into account the information available pursuant to Article 65.5.b) of Law 7/2022, of April 8.

CHAPTER VI

Sanctioning regime

Article 20. Infringements.

1. Infringements concerning food loss and waste will be classified as very serious, serious and minor.

These infringements will be compatible with any civil, criminal or other liabilities that may arise and in particular with the application of sanctioning regimes in matters of waste and contaminated soils, food quality, consumption, trade, hygiene, public health and food safety, when their punitive basis is different.

2. The autonomous communities, if they regulate the prevention of food loss and waste at the regional level, shall consider the following infringements:

a) Minor offenses:

1. Failure to apply the hierarchy of priorities in waste management to food or failure to properly justify its non-application, in accordance with the provisions of article 5.2.

2. In the case of being obliged, as indicated in article 6, the food industries, the retail food distribution companies and the hospitality and catering companies, not to carry out the donation of unsold food that is still suitable for human consumption under the terms set out in the corresponding agreement or convention, provided that they have sufficient means to do so and the reason is not contemplated in their prevention plan, in accordance with article 5.2., with social initiative entities and other non-profit organizations or food banks.

3. Failure to comply with the commitments contained in the sectoral guide of good practices for the prevention of food waste and the reduction of food residues, which is applicable to the company.

4. To expressly prevent the donation of food through a contractual stipulation.

5. In the case of companies and entities of social initiative and other non-profit organizations that are dedicated to the distribution of food for donation, do not deliver the surplus food to disadvantaged people, unless that food is not in conditions suitable for human consumption for a justified cause and unrelated to the entity, in which case it will not be considered an infringement.

6. Failure to cooperate with public administrations for the quantification of food waste.

b) Serious infringements:

1. Not having a business plan for the prevention and reduction of food waste and refuse, if required to do so.

2. To discriminate in access to the distribution of donated food for any reason, cause, circumstance or condition.

2 bis. Intentional destruction or alteration of food that meets suitable conditions for consumption.

3. The second or subsequent minor infraction that involves repetition with any other minor infraction committed within two years, counted from the sanction by final administrative resolution of the first one.

c) A very serious offense is considered to be the second or subsequent serious offense that involves repetition with any other serious offense committed within two years, counted from the sanction by final administrative resolution of the first one, except for that provided for in section b) 3º.

Article 21. Sanctions.

For the purposes of this law, and without prejudice to the provisions of other applicable sectoral regulations, the sanctions to be imposed by the competent authority in its corresponding area shall be:

a) Minor infringements will be sanctioned with a warning or a fine of up to 2,000 euros.

b) Serious infringements will be punished with a fine of between 2,001 and 60,000 euros.

c) Very serious infringements will be sanctioned with a fine of between 60,001 and 500,000 euros.

However, the autonomous communities may increase these thresholds and include other additional or accessory penalties in their respective laws.

Article 22. Correction.

Once the inspection has verified the existence of non-compliance and irregularities that may give rise to the commission of a minor infringement in accordance with this regulation, the interested party may be granted an adequate and sufficient period to proceed with its correction.

Article 23. Statute of limitations for offenses.

1. The infringements provided for in this law shall be subject to the following time limits:

a) Minor offenses: six months.

b) Serious offenses: one year.

c) Very serious offenses: two years.

2. The limitation period for infringements shall be calculated from the day on which they were committed. In infringements where the conduct described implies a permanent obligation for the holder, the limitation period shall be calculated from the date of cessation of the activity.

3. The statute of limitations for infringements will be interrupted by the initiation of the corresponding sanctioning procedure with knowledge of the interested party, and the statute of limitations period will resume if the procedure is suspended for more than one month for reasons not attributable to the alleged offender.

Additional provision one. Quantification of food waste.

Public administrations will promote the necessary means for measuring food waste, according to Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 of 3 May 2019, supplementing Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards a common methodology and minimum quality requirements for the uniform measurement of food waste.

For these purposes, mechanisms for collaboration for the exchange of information in order to comply with the obligations of quantifying food waste will be agreed upon by agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the National Institute of Statistics and the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, all in accordance with the methodology established in Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 of 3 May 2019.

Likewise, the procedures for obtaining this information may be developed by regulation in accordance with the terms established in Article 18.6 of Law 7/2022, of April 8, as well as the conditions for submitting said information by the agents of the food chain to the competent authorities.

Second additional provision. Declaration of general interest of natural paths.

The following rural infrastructure works, consisting of the creation of natural paths, are declared to be of general interest:

1. Guadalquivir Natural Path and its connection with other axes (Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha).

2. Natural Path Mediterranean Route (Andalusia and Region of Murcia).

Third additional provision. Content of the Strategic Plan for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste and of the regional programs.

The measures included in the Strategic Plan for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste, which, in accordance with Article 17.1 of this Law, will form part of the specific section for the reduction of food waste in the State Program for the prevention of waste prepared in accordance with Article 19 of Law 7/2022, of April 8, must be developed in compliance with the provisions of the European Union in this respect, once they are adopted.

Similarly, regional programming instruments must take into account the same considerations outlined in the previous paragraph.

Fourth additional provision. Implementation of Government aid to the olive and vineyard sectors.

1. The Government will establish within a maximum period of two months an exceptional aid to agricultural holdings in the olive and vineyard sectors, in compensation for the decrease in income received by producers as a result of the increase in production costs caused by the increase in the price of inputs, derived from the situation created by the invasion of Ukraine, a situation that has been aggravated by the decrease in the harvest due to the impact of the drought.

2. This aid will be granted to the owners of farms classified as priority farms, as well as farm owners who are farmers as the main occupation, in accordance with Law 19/1995, of July 4, on Modernization of Agricultural Holdings, with areas of olive groves and vineyards under dryland or deficit irrigation due to the climatic situation.

3. The aid will be provided with a fund of 85 million euros for dryland vineyard areas and 285 million euros for dryland olive grove areas, and the necessary budget modifications must be made.

4. The aid will be implemented through a direct grant procedure that ensures its rapid receipt by farmers and guarantees the rights of those affected by the digital divide in their relations with the administration.

Fifth additional provision. Declaration of general interest of certain irrigation modernization works.

1. The following irrigation modernization works are declared to be of general interest:

a) Modernization and improvement project for irrigation in the Barrancos de Sierra Nevada irrigation community in Abla and Abrucena, Almería.

b) Modernization works of the irrigation of the Irrigation Community of the Canal de La Retención in the municipal areas of Ribas de Campos, Monzón de Campos, Grijota, Villaumbrales, Becerril de Campos, Husillos and Palencia (Palencia).

c) Modernization works of the irrigation of Torreblanca (Ponts) and Basella (a sector of said municipality and another of Pinell), within the framework of the compensation irrigation of the Rialb reservoir (Lleida).

d) Project for the expansion of the irrigated area section II of the Left Bank Canal of the Najerilla in Alesanco (La Rioja).

e) Project for the expansion of the Río de la Fuente in Navarrete (La Rioja).

f) Modernization of the irrigation of the Bajo Tuerto Irrigation Community (Irrigation communities of the Los Tres Concejos, San Félix, Villarnera and Santibáñez de la Isla dam, La Manga dam, Santa María de la Isla, Barrientos and Posadilla de la Vega dam, San Esteban dam, Bajo Tuerto and the irrigation groups of Toralino and Toral de Fondo) (León).

g) Modernization of irrigation in Sector V of the Irrigated Zone of the Left Bank Canal of the Porma (León).

h) Modernization of the irrigation system of the El Moro Dam Irrigation Community (León).

i) Modernization and consolidation of the irrigation of the Irrigation Community of the Duerna Irrigation Zone (León).

j) Transformation into irrigated land of 12,000 hectares in the Irrigated Area of La Armuña, Phase II (Salamanca).

k) Modernization and consolidation works of the irrigation systems of the Central Board of Irrigators of the Axarquía (Left Bank) (Málaga).

l) Works for the improvement and modernization of the irrigation systems of the Motril Irrigation Community (Granada).

m) Modernization works of the irrigation systems of the San Roque Irrigation Community (Murcia).

n) Modernization project for the improvement of water management of the Tajo-Segura Transfer Irrigation Community of Sangonera la Seca (Region of Murcia).

2. The works included in this additional provision shall implicitly carry the following declarations:

a) The one of public utility for the purposes provided for in articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Law of December 16, 1954, on Forced Expropriation.

b) The urgent one for the purposes of the occupation of the affected assets referred to in article 52 of the Law of December 16, 1954.

3. This declaration of general interest will allow the forced expropriations required for said works and the urgent occupation of the affected properties.

Sixth Additional Provision. Determination of the representativeness of professional agricultural organizations at the state level.

The determination of the representativeness of professional agricultural organizations at the state level will be established in accordance with the rules contained in this provision:

Rule One. Requirements that organizations must meet in order to participate in the procedure for determining representativeness.

Entities that meet the following requirements as of December 31 of the year prior to the initiation of the procedure established by rule three may apply for recognition as the most representative organizations at the state level:

a) Be constituted and recognized as professional agricultural organizations of a general nature and state scope under the protection of Law 19/1977, of April 1, on the regulation of the right of trade union association, and have their statutes registered in the Registry of the competent labor authority of state scope as a business organization with at least one year of age at the date of publication of the respective resolution of initiation of the procedure of measurement of the representativeness provided for in rule three.

b) To demonstrate, through its statutes:

1. That they be general, not sectoral, professional agricultural organizations.

2. That they have among their statutory objectives and purposes the defense of the general interests of agriculture, understanding by this the agricultural, livestock and forestry activities, and the defense and promotion of the professional, economic and social interests of the owners of agricultural and livestock farms.

3. That they have a state scope.

If the entity applying for recognition is made up of organizations of a lower scope (regional, provincial or island) and of a general, non-sectoral nature, even if each of them retains its original name and its own legal personality, this integration must be accredited by any legal title that reliably proves it at least six months prior to the date of application for recognition.

c) Have an effective presence and activity in at least seven autonomous communities.

Rule Two. Criteria for determining representativeness.

1. The representativeness of agricultural professional organizations at the national level will be determined exclusively based on the representativeness certifications issued by the autonomous communities, in accordance with the established representativeness recognition systems or, where applicable, their level of presence in each community. These certifications must be submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

2. The representativeness certifications mentioned in the previous article will be carried out based on the following criteria:

a) In those autonomous communities that have current legislation, accrediting the status of being the most representative, in accordance with the processes established legislatively by the autonomous communities for the determination of the status of being the most representative, for the purposes of the autonomous administration and that are in force, in those autonomous communities that have held voting processes, according to the data resulting from the most recent one.

b) In those autonomous communities that have current legislation to establish the greatest representativeness, through the accreditation of said condition, corresponding according to the data.

c) Alternatively, in the remaining autonomous communities, through accreditation of the institutional participation of agricultural professional organizations within those communities. This will take into account their participation in the institutional bodies of the autonomous communities or their involvement in the processes of drafting regulations within them.

3. The organization wishing to apply for recognition as the most representative professional agricultural organization at the state level must submit the corresponding certificates from the respective autonomous communities that accredit its greater representativeness or establishment in accordance with the provisions of letters a), b) and c) of section 2.

4. Once the corresponding certificates from the autonomous communities have been received by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the determination of the status of most representative at the state level of each of the professional agricultural organizations will be made.

5. To achieve the status of most representative at the state level, a professional agricultural organization must achieve the highest representativeness and/or accreditation of institutional participation in at least seven autonomous communities in accordance with the provisions of letters a), b) and c) of section 2.

6. Among those that meet the requirement set out in section 5, it will also be required that the professional agricultural organization reaches at least a figure equivalent to at least 10% of the total national members in the RETA (Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers) and SETA self-employed system (Special System for Agricultural Workers).

That percentage will be calculated as follows:

a) For the autonomous communities that have certified in accordance with section 2 a), the votes obtained will be counted and the percentage they represent will be calculated as equivalents with respect to the number of workers affiliated in the RETA (Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers) and SETA self-employed system (Special System for Agricultural Workers) of said community.

b) For the autonomous communities that have certified in accordance with section 2 b), the members of the organization recognized in the certificate will be counted, and the percentage they represent as equivalents with respect to the number of members in the RETA (Special Regime of Self-Employed Workers) and SETA self-employed system (Special System of Agricultural Workers) of said community will be calculated.

c) For the autonomous communities that have certified in accordance with section 2 c), the number of organizations will be taken into account, attributing in equal percentages to each of those listed in the certificate the number of members in the RETA (Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers) and SETA self-employed system (Special System for Agricultural Workers) of said community.

Rule Three. Commencement of proceedings.

For the determination of representativeness, the Undersecretariat of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will agree to initiate the procedure for its determination by means of a resolution, which will be published on the notice board of the associated electronic headquarters of the Department, in accordance with article 45 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, giving one month to the interested organizations to submit the documentation that accredits such condition.

Rule Four. Processing of the procedure.

1. Upon receipt of the application accompanied by the relevant documentation, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will verify that the entities meet the requirements of the first rule, so that it can be confirmed that they have among their statutory purposes the defense of the general interests of agriculture, which will be accredited by the articles of incorporation registered as provided for in Law 19/1977, of April 1, from which such general and agricultural, not sectoral, character can be deduced without difficulty, and the development of the activity at the state level, as well as the possibility of affiliation of any member regardless of their residence, for its admission to processing.

2. Once the applications have been accepted for processing, and in light of the documentation provided, compliance with the conditions of rule two will be verified.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food may, where appropriate, verify the criteria and documentation provided.

Rule Five. Resolution of the procedure.

1. Once the process is completed, the Undersecretariat of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will declare, with justification, the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level, through the respective individual resolutions, when it is determined that the conditions set out in rule two are met.

2. It will also issue a resolution rejecting or dismissing the remaining applications.

3. All resolutions must be published in the "Official State Gazette" on the same day.

Rule Six. Validity of the recognition.

1. The validity of the resolutions declaring representativeness will be five years from the day of their publication.

Before the first resolutions expire, the Government must promote and propose, after consulting the autonomous communities and the most representative agricultural professional organizations at the state level, a new system for accrediting the representativeness of professional farmers at the state level based on objective, precise criteria established by law, in which the choices among the people registered with the Special Regime of Self-Employed Workers of the Social Security for their agricultural, livestock or forestry activities are its fundamental basis.

2. Three months before its expiry, the Undersecretariat will initiate a new resolution to begin the procedure for determining representativeness in accordance with the rules set out in this provision.

3. However, its validity will be temporarily maintained until the publication of the resolutions that end the corresponding representativeness measurement procedure.

4. In the event of a split or division of a professional agricultural organization, only the entity that retains ownership of the NIF of the organization that obtained recognition as such will retain the status of the most representative professional agricultural organization, without prejudice to the fact that, where appropriate, they may participate in the following representativeness measurement procedure.

Rule Seven. General effects of recognition.

General professional agricultural organizations that, in accordance with the criteria of this provision, are recognized as the most representative at the state level, will carry out institutional representation functions in defense of their interests before the General State Administration and other state entities or bodies, and will have the rights inherent to their consideration as such.

Eighth Rule. Agrarian Council.

1. The general professional agricultural organizations that, in accordance with this provision, are recognized as the most representative at the state level, will form part of the Agrarian Council, which is established as the collegiate body of a consultative nature attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with the purpose of advising the General State Administration on matters of general agricultural and rural interest, its regulation being developed by regulation.

2. The functions of the Agrarian Council are as follows:

a) To be informed of the department's regulatory projects on agriculture and rural development that are submitted for consideration.

b) To be informed and to report on the measures of the Common Agricultural Policy and the agricultural policy that are submitted for their consideration.

c) To report on the evolution of the social and economic situation of the agricultural sector and to formulate recommendations for the adoption of those measures that are considered necessary in order to improve the quality of life of the agricultural sector.

d) To make suggestions that are considered appropriate to improve policies that may affect the socio-economic conditions of agricultural professionals and agricultural activity.

e) To know and report on the matters that its President submits for its consideration.

3. The Agrarian Council is composed of two councilors proposed by each of the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level, appointed by the Minister, who will preside over it, and an equivalent number of representatives of the Department, all in accordance with the principle of balanced presence of women and men included in Organic Law 3/2007, of March 22, for the effective equality of women and men.

Rule Nine. Other participatory bodies.

1. Sectoral regulations that include the participation of the most representative agricultural professional organizations at the state level will be adapted within six months to guarantee the participation of all the agricultural professional organizations declared to be the most representative at any given time at the state level in accordance with this provision.

2. Likewise, the results of the successive processes of determining representativeness will be communicated to the relevant international and supranational bodies in which the agricultural sector is represented.

Rule Ten. Direct subsidies.

1. Pursuant to Article 22.2.b) of Law 38/2003, of November 17, General Law on Subsidies, a direct grant is established, effective from January 2, 2025, in favor of the most representative agricultural professional organizations at the state level, for representation and collaboration activities before the General State Administration and the European Union or other institutions in these areas, as determined in the respective call.

2. The amount that, in each year, is included in the General State Budgets for this purpose, will be distributed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as established in the respective call, without the possibility of granting subsidies in competitive competition for the same purposes.

Rule Eleven. Deadline for initiating the first procedure to determine the status of the most representative professional agricultural organization at the state level.

The Undersecretariat of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will agree to initiate the first procedure for determining the status of the most representative agricultural professional organization at the state level in accordance with this provision within three months from the entry into force of this additional provision, in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of the final provision of this law relating to the entry into force.

Twelfth Rule. Transitional representativeness of professional agricultural organizations at the state level.

Until the declaration as the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level in accordance with this provision, those organizations that obtained said recognition in accordance with the previous legislation will maintain the status of most representative.

Seventh additional provision. Regulation of gleaning or gleaning.

Autonomous communities may regulate gleaning or foraging as a non-profit complementary activity aimed at preventing food loss and waste.

Eighth additional provision. Control of natural predator species in the efficiency of the production system.

The removal and capture of wolves, and generally of any predatory species that has a high impact on the production system, will comply with the requirements established for guaranteeing the conservation of native wild species. Specifically, for those species included in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection, the applicable regime will be that established in Article 61 of Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. For these purposes, exceptional authorizations, in addition to the reasons provided for in Article 61.1, may also be justified by the efficiency of the production system.

Prior to its submission to the European Commission, the Sectoral Conference on the Environment, on the proposal of the State Commission for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, will approve the six-year reports provided for in Article 17 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.

Single transitional provision. Adaptation to European regulations.

The modification of the protection regime for wolf populations south of the Duero River in the annexes of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, which implies their inclusion in the Annex of animal and plant species of Community interest whose collection in the wild and exploitation may be subject to management measures, will determine the automatic modification of Royal Decree 139/2011 of 4 February, for the development of the List of Wild Species under Special Protection and the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species for their effective exclusion from the List of Wild Species under Special Protection.

Single repealing provision. Repeal of regulations.

All provisions that conflict with it are repealed, and in particular Law 12/2014, of July 9, which regulates the procedure for determining the representativeness of professional agricultural organizations and creates the Agricultural Council.

Likewise, Order APM/476/2018, of April 30, which establishes the regulatory bases for the granting of subsidies to representative associative entities of the agricultural and food sector, for the development of collaboration and representation activities before the General State Administration and the European Union, as well as for carrying out specific activities of special interest to the Spanish agri-food sector, is repealed.

Final Provision One. Amendment of Royal Decree 705/1997, of May 16, which approves the Regulation of Law 38/1994, of December 30, regulating the Interprofessional Agri-food Organizations, amended by Law 13/1996, of December 30, on fiscal, administrative and social measures.

With safeguarding its rank, Royal Decree 705/1997, of May 16, which approves the Regulation of Law 38/1994, of December 30, regulating Interprofessional Agri-food Organizations, as amended by Law 13/1996, of December 30, on fiscal, administrative and social measures, is modified in the following terms:

One. The fifth paragraph of point (c) of section 2 of Article 23 is worded as follows:

"Two representatives from each of the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level."

Two. The third paragraph of point (c) of section 3 of Article 23 is worded as follows:

"One representative from each of the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level."

Final provision two. Amendment of Royal Decree 388/1998, of March 13, which modifies the General Commission of the State Entity of Agricultural Insurance and the Coordination Commission with the Autonomous Communities, on agricultural insurance.

With safeguarding its rank, letter e) of article 1 is modified and a letter e bis) is added in Royal Decree 388/1998, of March 13, which modifies the General Commission of the State Entity of Agricultural Insurance and the Coordination Commission with the Autonomous Communities, on agricultural insurance, which is worded as follows:

«e) A member representing state-level agricultural cooperative organizations.

e bis) One member for each of the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level.»

Final provision three. Amendment of Royal Decree 1164/2001, of October 26, which establishes access tariffs to the electricity transport and distribution networks.

A new section 7 is added to Article 4. General conditions of access tariff contracts, which is worded as follows:

"7. The specific conditions applicable to access contracts for owners of agricultural holdings, whether self-employed or companies, including agricultural cooperatives and irrigation communities subject to seasonality, will be as follows:

They may exercise their right to an access contract with the possibility of having two different power levels over a 12-month period, depending on the supply needs of their business, simply by notifying their supplier electronically and/or by telephone. To this end, the supply companies will provide a free telephone number. The prices for the power component will not increase in any way compared to the applicable tariffs, provided that the established price is consistent with the security and economic and financial sustainability of the system, as set out in Article 13 of Law 24/2013 of December 26, as well as with applicable EU regulations.

Final provision four. Amendment of Law 43/2002, of November 20, on plant health.

Law 43/2002, of November 20, on plant health, is amended as follows:

One. A new article 9 bis is added with the following content:

"Article 9 bis. Measures in the case of species whose introduction is prohibited.

Upon detecting plantations or crops, plants and their products, as well as related material, of species or varieties whose introduction into national territory is prohibited or which lack the necessary authorization due to non-compliance with phytosanitary requirements for their production, the competent authority shall immediately adopt the measure of destruction (unless the appropriateness of adopting other less burdensome but also effective alternative measures is assessed) to prevent the spread of pests that could have potential economic importance or significant environmental repercussions, after consulting, in the case of forest species, the competent environmental body.

Two. Section c) of Article 56 is amended to read as follows:

"c) Failure to comply with the measures established by the competent Administration to combat or prevent the introduction of extraordinarily serious pests, or to combat or mitigate their effects."

Final provision five. Amendment of Law 8/2003, of April 24, on animal health.

Law 8/2003, of April 24, on animal health, is amended as follows:

One. Paragraph 18 of Article 3 is worded as follows:

«18. Animal health products: substances or active ingredients, as well as formulations or preparations containing one or more of them, intended for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, relief or cure of diseases or ailments of animals, to modify bodily functions, the induction or reinforcement of organic defenses or the achievement of reactions that demonstrate them.

This definition shall include, along with other animal health products, veterinary medicines and biocides for livestock use and those used in the presence of other animals, which shall be governed by their specific applicable regulations, without prejudice to the provisions expressly set out in this law concerning them.

Other veterinary products: reagents for the diagnosis of animal diseases, systems for monitoring physiological parameters in animals, and products intended for the maintenance of animal reproductive material (preservatives and diluents for semen, oocytes and embryos) that do not contain substances with medicinal action, except those substances whose action is to preserve the product.

Two. Paragraph i) of section 1 of article 7 is amended to read as follows:

"(i) To assume the costs arising from the custody, transport, storage, feeding, slaughter, destruction and, in general, all types of costs related to the animals, products of animal origin, veterinary products and animal feed products that are under their responsibility and that arise from the health measures, including safeguard and precautionary measures that may be adopted by the competent authorities."

Three. Paragraphs 15 and 16 of Article 83 are worded as follows:

"15. Failure to notify, without justified cause, of veterinary prescriptions to the Presvet database or to the regional databases, if they exist, within the time limits established in the regulations, by the prescribing veterinarian, or the communication of erroneous data to such databases by the prescribing veterinarian.

16. Failure to implement the corrective measures included in the Comprehensive Health Plan, as provided for in the regulations, within the established timeframe.

Four. Sections 26 and 28 of Article 84 are amended to read as follows, and section 29 is deleted:

"26. The performance of activities specific to the veterinary profession by persons who do not hold the corresponding degree of licensed or graduated veterinarian, when they do not constitute the crime of professional intrusion."

"28. The second or subsequent minor offense that constitutes recidivism with another minor offense committed within a period of two years, counted from the sanction by final administrative resolution of the first one."

Five. Section 17 of Article 85 is amended to read as follows:

"17. The second or subsequent serious offense that constitutes recidivism with another serious offense committed within a period of two years, counted from the sanction by final administrative resolution of the first one."

Final provision six. Amendment of Law 24/2003, of July 10, on Vineyards and Wine.

Law 24/2003, of July 10, on Vineyards and Wine, is amended as follows:

One. Letter m) of paragraph 1 of article 38 is incorporated, which shall read as follows:

«m) Failure to use a granted authorization for new planting, replanting or conversion, except in the cases provided for in national or European Union regulations.»

Two. Subparagraph q) of paragraph 1 of Article 39 is deleted.

Three. A paragraph is added to section 1 of article 42 with the following wording:

"In the case of the infringement referred to in article 38.1.m), when it involves a failure to use a replanting or conversion authorization granted, a warning will always be applied, and, in the case of a failure to use a new planting authorization granted, the amount of the sanction will be proportional to the unexecuted area of the authorization, as a determining criterion of the nature of the damages caused."

Final provision seven. Amendment of Order ARM/2616/2010, of October 5, which establishes the composition and operation of the Participation Committee within the framework of the Interministerial Council of Genetically Modified Organisms.

With safeguarding its rank, point 1 of letter d) of section 1 of article 2 of Order ARM/2616/2010, of October 5, which establishes the composition and operation of the Participation Committee within the framework of the Interministerial Council of Genetically Modified Organisms, is amended to read as follows:

"1. One representative from each of the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level."

Eighth final provision. Amendment of Royal Decree 227/2014, of April 4, which approves the Statute of the Food Information and Control Agency.

With safeguarding its rank, the ninth dash of letter c) of section 2 of article 6 of Royal Decree 227/2014, of April 4, which approves the Statute of the Food Information and Control Agency, is modified to read as follows:

«– One member for each of the most representative professional agricultural organizations declared at the state level, among which the presence of the organizations that represent the interests of the sectors or markets referred to in letter g) of article 3 of this statute will be ensured.

Final provision nine. Amendment of Royal Decree 833/2014, of October 3, which establishes and regulates the General Register of Organic Operators and creates the Coordination Committee for Organic Production.

With safeguarding its rank, the first paragraph of the second additional provision of Royal Decree 833/2014, of October 3, which establishes and regulates the General Register of Organic Operators and creates the Coordination Committee for Organic Production, is modified to read as follows:

"The General Directorate of Food will regularly convene a sectoral participation forum with the attendance of representatives from each of the most representative declared professional agricultural organizations at the state level, as well as agricultural cooperatives, business organizations and other organizations and institutions of recognized representativeness and competence in the field of organic production."

Final provision ten. Amendment of Royal Decree 64/2015, of February 6, which partially develops Law 12/2013, of August 2, on measures to improve the functioning of the food chain, and amends the Regulation of Law 38/1994, of December 30, regulating agri-food interprofessional organizations, approved by Royal Decree 705/1997, of May 16.

With safeguarding its rank, the fourth dash of letter c) of section 1 of article 11 of Royal Decree 64/2015, of February 6, which partially develops Law 12/2013, of August 2, on measures to improve the functioning of the food chain, and modifies the Regulation of Law 38/1994, of December 30, regulating agri-food interprofessional organizations, approved by Royal Decree 705/1997, of May 16, is amended to read as follows:

"– One representative from each of the most representative professional agricultural organizations at the state level."

Eleventh final provision. Amendment of the consolidated text of the Workers' Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23.

Section 2 of Article 15 of the consolidated text of the Workers' Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23, is amended to read as follows:

"2. For the purposes of this article, production circumstances shall be understood as the occasional and unforeseeable increase in activity and fluctuations, which, even if they are part of the normal activity of the company, generate a temporary mismatch between the stable employment available and that which is required, provided that they do not correspond to the cases included in article 16.1.

The fluctuations referred to in the previous paragraph shall include those resulting from annual vacations.

When a fixed-term contract is due to these production circumstances, its duration may not exceed six months. A sectoral collective agreement may extend the maximum contract duration to one year.

If the contract was agreed upon for a duration shorter than the maximum legal or conventionally established duration, it may be extended, by agreement of the parties, once only, without the total duration of the contract exceeding said maximum duration.

Similarly, companies may formalize contracts for production-related circumstances to address occasional, foreseeable situations of short and limited duration, as outlined in this paragraph, including agricultural and agri-food campaigns. Companies may only use this type of contract for a maximum of ninety days in a calendar year, except for companies in the agricultural and agri-food sector, which may use it for a total of 120 days in a calendar year, regardless of the number of workers required to address the specific situations on each of those days, which must be clearly identified in the contract.

These ninety days, or one hundred and twenty days in the case of farms and companies in the agri-food sector, cannot be used continuously. Companies must provide the workers' legal representatives with an annual forecast of the use of these contracts in the last quarter of each year.

The purpose of this contract in the agricultural, livestock and forestry sector and the industry associated with these sectors is to cover one or more short-term campaigns, with an annual limit of 120 actual working days.

The performance of work within the framework of contracts, subcontracts or administrative concessions that constitute the usual or ordinary activity of the company may not be identified as the cause of this contract, without prejudice to its conclusion when the circumstances of production occur under the terms mentioned above.

Twelfth final provision. Amendment of Law 9/2017, of November 8, on Public Sector Contracts, which transposes into Spanish law Directives 2014/23/EU and 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of February 26, 2014.

A paragraph is added to the end of section 1 of article 202 of Law 9/2017, of November 8, on Public Sector Contracts, which transposes into Spanish law Directives 2014/23/EU and 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of February 26, 2014, with the following wording:

"When the conditions set out in the first paragraph of this section are met, the tender specifications for food services in public institutions will be required to include, as a special condition of execution, the observance of appropriate practices from the point of view of food waste and compliance with Law 1/2025, of April 1, on the prevention of food loss and waste."

Thirteenth final provision. Amendment of Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy.

Sections 4 and 6 of Article 18 of Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy, are amended to read as follows:

"4. In order to promote the prevention of single-use packaging, food retailers with a surface area equal to or greater than 400 square meters shall promote their sales area to offer products presented without primary packaging, including bulk sales or sales in reusable containers, to promote the reduction of food waste and the generation of packaging."

All food establishments selling fresh produce and beverages, as well as cooked food, must accept the use of reusable containers (bags, Tupperware, bottles, etc.) suitable for the type of product and properly sanitized, with consumers responsible for their proper preparation. Such containers may be refused by the retailer if they are visibly dirty or unsuitable. To this end, the point of sale must inform the end consumer about the cleanliness and suitability requirements for reusable containers.

(…)

«6. (…)

All actors in the food chain have the obligation to cooperate with the Administrations for the quantification of food waste in order to comply with the obligation provided for in Article 65.5 b), and in application of the provisions of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives.

Fourteenth final provision. Amendment of Law 30/2022, of December 23, which regulates the management system of the Common Agricultural Policy and other related matters.

Section 6 is added to Article 8 of Law 30/2022, of December 23, which regulates the management system of the Common Agricultural Policy and other related matters, with the following wording:

"6. The competent authorities may use the database provided for in the one hundred and twelfth additional provision of Law 31/2022, of 23 December, on the General State Budget for the year 2023, in order to monitor the risk of conflict of interest in public employees and other staff serving decision-making, implementing and instrumental entities that participate, individually or through their membership in collegiate bodies, in the execution of the Union budget, with regard to CAP interventions or measures financed with the EAGF and EAFRD funds directly, indirectly and jointly in management, including preparatory acts in this regard, auditing or control."

Fifteenth final provision. Competence title.

This law is issued under the provisions of Article 149.1.13 of the Spanish Constitution, which grants the State competence over the bases and coordination of the general planning of economic activity, as well as the provisions of Article 149.1.23, which grants the State competence over basic legislation on environmental protection without prejudice to the powers of the Autonomous Communities to establish additional protection standards.

Sixteenth final provision. Authorization for regulatory development.

The Government of the Nation is empowered to issue, within the scope of its powers, the regulatory provisions necessary for the development and application of this law.

Seventeenth final provision. Tax regime for food donations.

The Government will establish, as soon as possible, the mechanism for the immediate application of the 0 percent rate to all deliveries of goods, in kind or in cash, made as donations for the acquisition of food or basic necessities to non-profit entities defined in accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of Law 49/2002, of December 23, on the tax regime of non-profit entities and tax incentives for patronage, in accordance with the provisions of Article 91.Four of Law 37/1992, of December 28, on Value Added Tax.

This regime will apply exclusively to food and goods that will be used for donations, and excludes products acquired to return to the commercial circuit.

Eighteenth final provision. Amendment of Law 19/1995, of July 4, on the Modernization of Agricultural Holdings.

Paragraph c) of section 1, article 4, of Law 19/1995, of July 4, on the Modernization of Agricultural Holdings is modified as follows:

"c) To have reached the age of eighteen and not to have reached the ordinary retirement age corresponding to the provisions of the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law."

Nineteenth final provision. Amendment of Royal Decree 139/2011, of February 4, for the development of the List of Wild Species under Special Protection and the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species.

With safeguarding of its rank, the annex of Royal Decree 139/2011, of February 4, for the development of the List of Wild Species under Special Protection and the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species, in relation to the species listed below, is maintained in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection, with modification of the populations referred to in the following terms:

Final provision twentieth. Entry into force.

This law will come into force on January 2, 2025.

However, the sixth additional provision, the repealing provision and the first, second and seventh to tenth final provisions, will come into force on the day following the publication of this law in the "Official State Gazette".

The mandatory measures contained in Article 6 of this law will be applied after a period of one year from its publication in the "Official State Gazette".

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to observe and enforce this law.

Madrid, April 1, 2025.