Brussels, 01/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is updating guidelines on the promotion of EU farm products in the European Union and in third countries.
On Wednesday 31 July, the Commission adopted a regulation amending Regulation No 501/2008 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 3/2008 on information provision and promotion measures for agricultural products on the internal market and in third countries. The main changes introduced by the amending regulation are:
1. Sheep meat is included in the list of eligible products for promotion in both the internal market and in third countries. In the context of the difficult situation in the sheep meat sector and with a view to raising awareness in relation to its production and consumption, the EU may co-finance information and promotion programmes for generic sheep meat of Union origin.
2. “Optional quality terms”, a new type of quality product is also included in the product list but is only eligible for promotion measures on the internal market. There are three other kinds of quality products: - protected designation of origin (PDO), which recognises specific know-how for a product for which all stages of manufacture (production, processing and finalisation) take place in a given geographic area; - protection geographical indication (PGI), which designates a product closely linked to a geographical zone in which at least one key stage of manufacture takes place; - and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) which recognises the traditional nature of a product in its composition or method of production.
3. Generic poultry meat is deleted from the list of products eligible for promotion. It was introduced following the avian influenza crisis but, the view being that the period following this has been sufficiently long for restoring consumer confidence, it has now been removed from that list.
4. Croatia, which has been a member of the EU since July 2013, has been deleted from the list of third countries while other third country target markets have been added.
The total budget available under these promotion programmes (which exist since 2000) is around €55 million. The EU finances up to 50% of the cost of these measures (up to 60% in programmes promoting the consumption of fruit and vegetables by children or concerning information on responsible drinking and the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption). The remainder is met by the professional/inter-branch organisations which proposed them and in some cases also by the member states concerned. (LC/transl.jl)