Critical Consuption and Etichal Purchasing Groups (GAS)

Critical consumption is dependent upon the consumers’ behaviours regarding their evaluation of the environmental, social and economic sustainability of products and production. Within legal framework related to critical consumption, GAS (Italian acronym for “Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale”, in English “ethical purchasing groups”) is particularly noteworthy. Regulated by Italian Law no. 244/2007, the GAS are associations aimed at collectively purchasing goods under fair prices and conditions, including respecting the environment and enhancing the solidarity between consumers, traders and producers. Law no. 244/2007 identifies the purpose of the GAS in reference to the link between social solidarity, established in Article 2 of the Italian Constitution, and environmental sustainability. It appears to aim towards a significant evolution of the constitutional principle of solidarity, correlating it closely with environmental sustainability. Food diversity therefore becomes increasingly more important not only because it is necessary to guarantee the right to food, e.g., contributing to reductions in biodiversity loss (protected by Law no. 194/2015), but also because it serves as an index of territorial identity. The GAS could represent an example of this new kind of “sustainable solidarity”, strengthening the perspective in favour of including, by way of evolutionary interpretation, a new inviolable right in the open list of Article 2 of the Italian Constitution: the right to food sovereignty.