Fiat Topolinos seized at the port of Livorno: "They are not Italian"
https://www.repubblica.it/economia/2024 ... -P12-S2-T1
Topolinos produced in Morocco stopped at customs : "They are not Italian, they cannot display the tricolor on the side, they violate the law." This is a huge seizure of Topolino and Topolino Dolcevita by the Guardia di Finanza and the Customs and Monopolies Agency. A total of 134 vehicles, electric and which can be driven by those aged fourteen and up because they are quadricycles. The reason for the operation? On the sides they had stickers with the Italian flag, which is why the soldiers of the yellow flames and the officials of the state body challenged Stellantis, the Italian-French company, for the fallacious indication of the origin of the product . It was not "made in Italy", but manufactured in Morocco and arrived in Tuscany on a freight ship. The news was reported by Il Tirreno
The stop occurred in Livorno, the port of access for cars imported into Italy, and there would also be a suspect. The seizure took place on Wednesday 15 May. The crime in question is the sale of industrial products with false signs, for which the prosecutor of Stellantis Europa spa is under investigation. The seals were arranged pursuant to article 4, paragraph 49, of the Financial Law of 2004 - 24 December 2003 number 350 - which provides that «importation and exportation for marketing purposes or the marketing or commission of acts rights in a non-unique manner to the marketing of products bearing false and misleading indications of provenance or origin" constitutes a crime, in this case the sale of industrial products with false signs, punished by article 517 of the penal code.
The same law for which the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, contested the name of Milan for the small SUV of the Casa del Biscione produced in Poland in the Tychy plant by the CEO of Alfa Romeo, Philippeprendito. . So much so that Alfa then had to change the name of the car to Junior, following the presentation in Milan. Now the tricolor flags on the doors have been deemed by the prosecutor's office - through the work of the financial police and the Customs and Monopolies Agency - to be misleading signs for the final consumer, who, seeing the stickers, would be deemed to identify Italy as a country of vehicle productions, actually made in Morocco. The cars are now in judicial storage at the "Leonardo Da Vinci" terminals and at Cilp, the port workers' company, where they disembarked. They will remain in custody - as reported by Il Tirreno - until their eventual release is arranged. There are, in total, 119 Fiat Topolinos and 15 Fiat Topolino Dolcevitas.
Stellantis, a group whose main shareholder is Exor which also controls Repubblica , "believes, with respect to the fact that a small sticker bearing the colors of the Italian flag affixed to the doors could constitute a false indication of the origin of the goods, that it has operated in full compliance with the regulations, communicating in a transparent way the country of production of the Topolino, without any deceptive intent towards consumers. In any case, to resolve each issue it was decided to intervene on the seized vehicles with the removal of the small stickers subject to authorization from the authorities" . Not only. Stellantis adds that “the sticker in question had the sole purpose of indicating the entrepreneurial origin of the product. In fact, the design of the new Topolino, which has been a historic car for Fiat since 1936, was conceived and developed in Turin by a team of professionals from the FIAT Style Center of Stellantis Europe SpA, an Italian company. Furthermore, since the presentation of the new model, the company has always been clear in declaring that it is manufactured in Morocco"
